


Star Wars Episode IX: The Sparks Rise

by egnanbuny



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Can't Be That Hard Right?!, Gen, In a Narratively-Satisfying Way, It’s Not Spoilers if I Don’t Know What’s Going to Happen, M/M, Tying Up All the Many Loose Ends, While Keeping Everyone In Character..., speculative fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-04-25 14:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egnanbuny/pseuds/egnanbuny
Summary: Supreme Leader Snoke may be dead, but his shadow still hangs over the galaxy. The Resistance is attempting to rise from its own ashes, while the First Order tries to stamp out the last pockets of rebellion.Using stolen databanks, Poe, Finn and Rose plan a series of daring attacks on key targets - fighting to preserve the hope that one day, the darkness of the First Order will be overcome.Meanwhile, Rey must balance the hopes of the Resistance with the strange and disturbing bond she shares with Kylo Ren - who, in his attempts to bring the First Order under control, is struggling to free himself from the weight of the past…A sequel to a previous work (Star Wars: The (Alternative) Last Jedi), although since that ended in roughly the same place as the movie - other than the death of Leia, RIP - this’ll probably make sense on its own. Probably.





	1. Title Crawl

_Supreme Leader Snoke is dead_

_\- murdered by his own apprentice, Kylo Ren,_

_who will stop at nothing to destroy the_

_RESISTANCE and lead the FIRST ORDER_

_into a new reign of galactic domination._

 

_Struggling to recover from the loss of_

_many of their commanders, the_

_Resistance must fight to preserve hope_

_in the galaxy and keep the First Order_

_from total supremacy._

 

_Based on information stolen from_

_First Order databanks, they have moved_

_to attack a key operations base_

_\- the destruction of which could be_

_a major blow to the ambitions of Kylo Ren…_


	2. Chapter 2

A shell exploded nearby, throwing chips of rock over them, the tiny shards peppering Finn’s skin. His back ached. The X-wings were leading another strafing run, skimming in low over the approach to the base - fountains of blue-green-black rocketing up in their wake as their blaster fire lit up the battlefield. He saw _Black One_ pick off one of the artillery placements close by.

“Come on!” he roared, the moon’s surface crackling under his boots as he sprinted towards the now-smoking gun. 

His troop followed, keeping low to avoid the blaster bolts streaking back and forth over the battlefield. Above them, a pair of TIE fighters screamed overhead, and they all threw themselves flat as another salvo ripped into the rocks around them. The terrain had looked dark and featureless from above - but now they were on the ground, he could see that the surface flaked off to reveal some kind of iridescent mineral beneath. The approach to the base was pitted with strange, shining blue-green scars.

The TIE fighters passed, and all but one of his squad scrambled to their feet to continue on towards the gun turret. The last man was screaming, curled around himself on the ground, and two of the others had to run back to drag him with them as the shadows of another trio of TIE fighters swept overhead.

“Alright,” said Finn, once they had all thrown themselves behind the sheltering walls of the gun emplacement. He glanced at the injured man, who was moaning and fighting against the two Resistance fighters trying to steady him so that they could pour bacta over his wound. “Alright, we’re nearly there. Stick to the plan. Use anything and everything you can as cover, keep an eye out for those fighters. You’ve got the charges?”

Rose nodded beside him, her eyes wide and frightened, her hands clenched tightly on the canvas bag slung over her shoulder. Behind her, her small team of mechanics huddled together. Finn glanced again at the gun - a smoking wreck, unfortunately. Now _that_ would have been able to make a serious dent in the First Order’s defences. Then again, it _had_ been making a serious dent in the Resistance forces, so…

“Ready?” His fighters nodded back at him, their faces set in grim determination, smudged with sweat and dust from the moon’s surface. He watched the TIE fighters roar overhead again, swerving and spiralling around the X-wings, and the AT-AT’s gun turrets swing upwards to take aim.

“Go!”

Their little group ran forwards, his fighters picking off stormtroopers still dotted around the battlefield as they went. The man beside him let out a startled yell, stumbled, and was gone. Finn ducked behind a fallen TIE fighter briefly as a speeder formation roared past, and another pair of explosions threw stinging shards of rock against his skin.

They were almost there. The walker towered above them, a groaning hulk of metal, cracking the surface of the moon into a spiderweb of turquoise as each massive foot came down. His squad had lost fighters; there were only nine of them left. Rose and her trio of mechanics knelt down as soon as they were under the thing’s main body, pulling the charges out of their bags. Finn and the other fighters took partial cover behind a leg, ducking out to take shots at the stormtroopers who came too close. 

The X-wings had abandoned their attacks on the base entrance; they were all tightly engaged with TIE fighters now, looping and weaving, lighting the grey sky with blaster fire. There were far too many First Order fighters, Finn saw with alarm.Even as he watched, one of the X-wings - _not Poe, not Rey_ \- spiralled out of control and smashed into the ground not far from the walker, skidding upside-down towards them and leaving a gleaming blue-green streak in its wake.

“We’re ready!” Rose shouted at him, tugging at his arm, just as the AT-AT raised the leg nearest to them. She pointed at the front left foot. “There!”

He nodded, and then pointed at the fallen X-wing. He thought he’d seen the pilot moving. “Take cover and wait for my signal!”

They scrambled over to it, coughing at the smoke still billowing from its engines. It was _Blue One,_ he realised, as they got closer - and Captain Lintra was still inside, struggling to climb out from the smashed wreckage of the cockpit. Finn and one of the others pulled her out and propped her up against the side of the fighter. Her eyes were dazed and unfocused and a red stain was spreading over the front of her flightsuit.

Finn returned his attention to the walker, which had just lifted another foot. “Get ready, Rose!” he shouted. Another series of explosions sounded behind them, raining more dust and chips of mineral onto them. The walker raised its front right leg.

“Now!”

Rose jammed her thumb down onto the detonator. The walker’s left leg erupted in a gout of fire, right leg crumpling as it hit the ground. It tipped forwards, the guns mounted on either side of its head exploding as it smashed down onto the rock.

“Yeah!” shouted Finn. “We got it! Rose! You got it!”

He looked around the battlefield as the others celebrated. The First Order had deployed eight walkers, and five were still standing. Their troopers were slowly advancing across the valley from the entrance to their base. The speeder squadrons and the AT-ATs were pushing the Resistance ground troops back onto the sides, breaking them up into pockets and then mercilessly bombarding them with blaster fire. In the air, the X-wings were still outnumbered by TIE fighters screeching around the sky like a swarm of insects. 

They weren’t going to win.

He knew it with the certainty of a hundred battle simulations, of thousands of hours of training, tactical drilling, strategy manuals and war games. They were outnumbered, and outgunned, and outmanoeuvred, and the Resistance weren’t going to win - no matter how many lucky shots Poe could pull off or how many charges Rose could lay. They simply didn’t have the numbers any more. 

If the First Order hadn’t mobilised so quickly, if they hadn’t been so ruthless in sending squadron after squadron to die against the first wave of Resistance fighters - pinning them back onto the sides of the valley and slowly whittling down their numbers so that they didn’t have the manpower or the speed to overrun the artillery emplacements…

“Commander,” he croaked, into the comms unit on his wrist. “Poe. We’ve taken down another walker but we’re struggling down here. I think we need to pull back.”

Lintra was panting, her chest rising and falling and her eyes screwed shut with pain. The stain on her stomach was dark against the green of her flightsuit, and it was spreading. One of the others was trying to pour bacta on it, but it didn’t seem to be doing much good. Rose was clutching her hand, stumbling over reassurances.

“Copy that, Finn,” came Poe’s voice, sounding strained. The main comms clicked on. “All ground units, pull back to the transports. All wings, try to give ‘em as much breathing space as you can.” 

Captain Lintra was shaking her head, pulling her ring off her finger and closing Rose’s hand over it, murmuring something too quiet for Finn to hear. Rose nodded. Another barrage of explosions made them all duck down behind the X-wing’s wreckage - and when he looked back, Lintra’s head had tipped back against the body of her fighter. 

The others were all hunched down, waiting for his signal to move. Finn glanced back.

“Will she-?”

“No,” said Rose. She had taken something out of her bag and tucked it into Lintra’s limp hand, folding the woman’s fingers around it. “Let’s go.”

They ran, keeping as low to the ground as they could, ducking around the fallen wreckage of TIE fighters and speeder bikes and X-wings alike, being showered with bits of rock and scraps of debris as the blaster bolts continued to hit around them. They lost another two men crossing between a fallen AT-ST and the gun turret Poe had blown up earlier - and then they had reached it and thrown themselves down amongst the fortifications.

Rose turned back to where they’d come, her face grim. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, softly, and pressed her detonator. 

_Blue One_ exploded, sending a cascade of blue-green-black into the air just as a TIE fighter swooped past overhead and had to swerve to avoid the blossoming knot of fire.

“She told me not to let them have her.” Rose’s face was smudged with dirt, tiny flecks of blood marking where the flakes of rock had hit, but her eyes were determined and her mouth was set in a grim line.

Finn nodded. The Resistance had lost too many good men and women already. 

He wasn’t going to let them lose any more. 

“Ground units, this is Finn. Unit commanders, state your position and status.”

“Krayt squad, third sector, holding cover.”

“Hydra squad, fourth sector, under fire.”

The other unit commanders rattled off their reports, while Finn tried to pick out their fighters on the field itself. Some of them had lost their captains. Two of the squads simply didn’t report in. 

“Alright,” he said, once the last of them had breathlessly confirmed that Nexu squad was down to three fighters sheltering from heavy fire in the sixth sector. “All squads in fourth and fifth, hold your position on the valley edges and provide covering fire. All squads in sixth and seventh, retreat to fourth sector and hold your position. Krayt, sweep around to the centre and disrupt their speeder runs.” 

“Copy that,” said Hydra’s commander. “Holding position, covering fire.”

The ground troops inched backwards, leapfrogging squads over each other and using a desperate rain of covering fire to force the First Order to abandon their pursuit. Major Brance reappeared on the comms and began directing sorties to destroy the artillery positions along the way. Finn lost track of time, focusing on the movements of the other squads and his own fighters - run, find cover, stop, fire, watch the others get clear, run, find cover…

Again and again the First Order tried to break through and turn the retreat into a rout; again and again, Finn and the others slipped through or forced them back. Poe and Rey and the others were working valiantly to shelter them from air attack and prevent the First Order breaking through the centre. They had outdistanced the AT-ATs now, their own transport ships in sight with the remnants of Blue Squadron already circling above them. 

They passed the wreckage of their heavy artillery guns - and now the first few squads were reaching the transports and the First Order were making a last, desperate effort to reach them before they could escape. Finn saw _Black One_ sweeping low over the valley, followed closely by Rey’s _Yellow Ace,_ both fighters twisting and dodging impossibly fast to avoid the blaster fire and break up the First Order speeder formations. 

The transports were lurching upwards into the sky, shuddering under stray blaster shots by lucky Stormtroopers, and Finn led his squad to the last one as its engines began to power up. He stared back out at the wreckage of the battlefield. Beside him, he could feel Rose shaking, one hand clutching the pendant around her neck. His back was stinging. It felt like his injury might have opened up again.

The stormtroopers must have been given the order to halt pursuit, he saw; they had started heading back to their base, already sweeping the ground for casualties and survivors. Just before the door closed, he spotted a figure standing in the centre of the battlefield. The weak dawn sunlight breaking through the clouds illuminated the blue-green scars pitting the rock, the smoke hanging in the air, the chaos of bodies and equipment scattered around.

The figure was looking right at him, and her armour was gleaming chrome.

 

* * *

 

Snoke’s throne was uncomfortable.

Ren had wanted to destroy it. He’d wanted to destroy all of it - the throne, the audience chamber, the whole ship. He’d wanted to throw the two pathetic halves of his former mentor into a trash compactor and shoot them into space. 

He couldn’t, of course. As far as the First Order were concerned, Supreme Leader Snoke had been tragically murdered by Resistance traitors and scum, and he had nobly taken on the reins of power to continue his master’s legacy. He had let Hux arrange the funeral, the transmission of the news across his fledgeling empire - another fiery speech about preventing the degenerate slide into chaos which the Republic had presided over.

It wouldn’t be long, now. The Republic was in its death throes - missing its main government, missing its fleet. The remaining systems would practically beg for the First Order to take control, craving stability like the weak-minded cowards they were. And the Resistance - the Resistance would soon be destroyed. Their leader - he squashed the twinge, savagely - their leader was dead. Their base was destroyed. Half of their fleet was shattered and in ruins. And he had just heard of reports that they had - with their laughably small army - launched an attack on a First Order communications base, and been repelled with humiliating ease. 

Let them keep throwing themselves at the First Order. Let them dash themselves to pieces on the teeth of his stormtroopers and AT-ATs. Let Rey’s childish hope die with her. 

“Supreme Leader.” One of his senior officers was kneeling before him, head bowed. “Sir, we’ve received word of incoming ships. Ours. The callsigns match-“ He swallowed, “-match the Knights.”

Ren was glad of his helmet covering his flicker of surprise. The Knights of Ren had been sent all over the galaxy, combing the underworlds for any signs of force-sensitives strong enough to be a threat. Of the six he had sent out, he had received word of only two: both dead. Assassinated, most likely. Their methods were reported to have made them… unpopular, to say the least.

“How many?”

“Four, Supreme Leader.”

He nodded. “I wish to speak with them. Immediately upon their arrival.”

The man nodded and hurried away. 

Ren stood and moved to the window. The throne had stayed, but the audience chamber had been so extensively damaged in the Resistance’s suicidal ramming attack that he had been able to rebuild it entirely to his own design. Black and silver, tall windows arching up towards the stars - the largest one directly behind his throne, throwing his features into shadow and half-dazzling anyone before him. 

He was still standing there when the Knights entered, silently, and knelt as one before him. 

“Remove your helmets,” he commanded, turning his head.

They obeyed, heads still bowed.

“Rise.”

They rose.

“Why have you come?”

“We were summoned, Lord Ren,” said Shunal, stepping forwards with catlike grace.

He narrowed his eyes. “I did not summon you.”

“We received our orders from Supreme Leader Snoke,” she said. “We were to return to you to serve.”

“You serve only me now. Whatever orders you were given by Snoke are no more.” He turned fully from the window, watching them. 

Snoke had sent them to him. It must have been shortly before his death. Had he known? Had he suspected? What orders had he given them?

“Your missions?”

She inclined her head, the angled bones of her face thrown into sharp relief by the shadows. “As you have commanded, my Lord. I have eliminated thirty-nine.”

“Thirty-one,” said Khi’len, showing sharpened teeth as he smiled.

Bakh bowed his head. “Twenty-seven killed, and a further five under surveillance.”

“Sixteen,” said An’khum.

“And you all remain loyal to me?” Ren swept his gaze over his four remaining Knights. “You will do as I command, without question or hesitation?”

“Yes, my lord.”

He nodded at An’khum. “Kill him.”

The Mirialan started backwards, hands shifting grip on his battleaxe as he activated its vibrofield. He was already too late, though; Khi’len had drawn a blaster pistol almost instantly, and An’khum went down on one knee as the shot ripped through his lower leg. It was Shunal who delivered the final blow: a sweeping, graceful overhead arc with her polearm, not even bothering to activate the vibrofield, the blade burying itself between neck and shoulder. Dark blue blood pooled on the floor as the Knight slumped.

Ren ignored it. “There is no place for mediocrity in my Order,” he said. “There is no place for failure. Failure is treason. You have _all_ failed me. I told you to eliminate anyone who could be a threat - and yet Luke Skywalker has trained a new apprentice. You have _failed_ me.” He clenched both fists, feeling the mechanical one tighten beneath his glove. “You will not fail me again. No matter what Snoke commanded, you take orders from _me_ now.” 

“My lord.” Shunal took a knee; the others followed suit. “What are your orders?”

He looked back out of the window. Whatever Snoke had intended for the Knights - whatever his reason for summoning them back - it didn’t matter any more. He was their master. They answered to him, and him alone. 

“We are going to find the last dregs of the Resistance,” he swore. “We are going to find the last of the so-called Jedi. We are going to find every last hint of rebellion in the galaxy. And when we do… they will burn.”

 

* * *

 

It was a pitifully small group gathered in the fighter hangar. Some of them were bandaged, or leaning on makeshift crutches, or had been carried there by their friends. Some of them were wearing their clothes from the battle. Some of them were still shaking, even though they had jumped safely to hyperspace hours ago. Rose looked at their faces and saw the same look she had seen reflected back at her on the window of the transport shuttle. Not even fear, or pain, or defeat. Just blank, numb exhaustion.

“The Resistance lives.” Commander Dameron looked haggard as he faced the group, but his voice was steady and his lifted his chin as he spoke. “The First Order has thrown everything they have at us - and we’re _still here_.” He stared around at them, almost defiantly.

“There are nameless billions who have died because of this war. Innocents. Husbands taken from wives, sisters taken from brothers. ” Rose saw him glance over at Finn. “Children ripped from their families. The destruction of the Hosnian system was not an act of war; it was an act of evil. The First Order imagines that their savagery will allow them to seize control of the galaxy.” He clenched his fist, his voice rising. “The First Order are wrong.”

Rose heard a murmur ripple through the people standing. 

“We are here to mourn those who gave their lives in the fight against the First Order. We are here to honour their bravery and their sacrifice and their memories. Those who died in the Hosnian System. Those who died in the assault on D’Qar. And those who died today on Sar Yonrac.” 

Poe nodded at Rose, Major Brance, and Admiral Statura. They moved forwards to light the pyres, the flames taking easily on the fuel-soaked rags. The Admiral’s hands were shaking badly; he had only just risen from his sickbed, and Captain Connix had to help him lower his torch to the third pyre, his face twisting in pain. The bright light from the flames only served to deepen the shadows on the hollow faces of the men and woman standing around.

“We will never know all of the names of those who died in the Hosnian System,” said Poe. “But we remember them. As we remember those of our own who had given their lives for the fight.” He looked down at the data tablet in his hands and took a breath.

“Nyen Aatar, pilot, _Cobalt Wasp_. Heyl Ades, pilot, _Dagger Six_.”

Rose felt the tears stinging her eyes now as he continued to read the names. There were so many. So many people. So many friends. Around her, she could see others begin to crumble, their grief raw and their eyes red-rimmed. So many names.

So many who had given everything to the Resistance - and she was lighting their pyres when all she’d ever done was fix stupid wiring faults in a stupid mech bay. When the only reason she wasn’t having her name read out right now was pure blind dumb _luck_. That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. She hadn’t deserved to live any more than they had deserved to die.

“Captain Tallissan Lintra, pilot, _Blue One_.”

She couldn’t see any more; even the pyres were just a blurred confusion of light. Lintra’s ring was still a cold weight in her pocket. Her brother was in the Resistance, apparently. A medical pilot. Poe had pointed him out, before the funeral had begun. She was glad, somehow, that there was someone to hear Lintra’s final words who mattered. 

Poe was almost there, now, and Rose realised that her hands were shaking. She didn’t want to hear the words. Or maybe she did. The half-moon pendant was cutting into the skin of her palm.

“Paige Tico. Gunner, _Cobalt Hammer_.” 

Rose felt her chest constrict. The tears were pouring down her cheeks, now, tasting of salt, stinging her skin. She wondered what her sister’s final words had been. Had she known that she was about to die? Had she wished that there was someone there to hear her? Had she been afraid?

Poe had reached the end of his list. He took a breath.

“Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Hero of the Resistance. Died sacrificing herself to ram the First Order flagship _Supremacy_ , successfully allowing the Resistance Fleet to escape to hyperspace. 

“Admiral Gial Ackbar. Veteran and hero of the Clone Wars, the Rebellion, and the Resistance. Fleet Commander of the Battle of Endor and Fleet Admiral of the Battle of Jakku. Died in the First Order attack on the bridge of the _Raddus_.

“Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Hero of the Rebellion and of the Resistance. Hero of the Battle of Yavin and of the Battle of Endor. Sacrificed himself to buy the Resistance time to escape from the First Order, and to save Jedi Padawan Rey from Supreme Leader Snoke and his apprentice Kylo Ren.”

Poe swallowed, his brows coming together sharply as he hesitated.

“General Leia Organa. Princess of Alderaan, member of the Imperial Senate, hero of the Rebellion and leader of the Resistance. Her wisdom, loyalty, determination and generosity of spirit carried us through both victory and defeat. Her strength was our own. Died-“ His voice cracked, but he carried on- “Died in the First Order attack on the bridge of the _Raddus._ ”

The faces around her were solemn. Through her tears, Rose saw others with their shoulders shaking. Admiral Statura looked grim, his face ashen. 

“There is no way to do these men and women high enough honour. Some were heroes who gave their lives for the Resistance. Some of them never had a choice. We don’t have the time or the ability to give them the send-off they deserve. But we can at least remember them. We can remember what they fought for, and what they died for. 

“We cannot bring them back. But we will make sure that their legacy lives on. We may be lighting pyres for them now - but these men and women will be the sparks, and the sparks will become a fire, and that fire will burn down the First Order and everything it stands for.”

He looked around at the men and women standing around the pyres, their faces lit by the flames, worn and weary and lined with grief and fatigue.

“They died for the Resistance, and the Resistance will not forget their sacrifice.”

Rose closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

The group seemed unwilling to disperse, even after the flames began to die down - even though some of them were swaying on their feet and more than one had to be held up by their comrades. They were separating into little knots, leaning against each other, laying hands on shoulders: silent gestures of comfort. Words didn’t seem necessary. 

She steeled her courage and wiped the tears from her eyes and walked over to the man Poe had pointed out earlier. He was in a pilot’s jumpsuit, still spattered with blood, the medical armband on his arm light against the dark green.

“Uh… Lieutenant Lintra?”

He looked confused as he nodded, and then his eyes widened as he saw what she was holding out to him. He took it, slowly. 

“Tallie’s,” he said. 

Rose nodded. “I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t know who to give it to.”

“How…?”

“I was… I was with her when she died. She told me to get it to Jace. I don’t know who-“

“Her fiancé.” He looked away. “It’s too late for that now.”

There was a moment of silence between them, and then he closed his eyes and sighed. “He was in the Hosnian system, when it… I don’t think it had really sunk in for her, though. So much happened since.”

“I - I’m sorry.” It sounded hopelessly inadequate.

He half-shrugged, rolling the ring between his fingers. “Guess it means I have something to remember her by, now.”

She realised that her hand had closed around her necklace, automatically. “Yeah. That’s… that’s good.”

He looked back at her with eyes that looked tired and red-rimmed. “Thanks for bringing it back.” The pilot hesitated. “Did she… how did she…?

“Her ship was shot down,” said Rose, guessing at his meaning. She had felt the same, after Paige. Wanting and not wanting to know. “I think something got her… hit her in the chest. We got her out of the cockpit, but we couldn’t stop the bleeding. She… she told me she wasn’t gonna make it. She made me take the ring and told me to give it to Jace and tell him she was sorry. Then she said to make sure the First Order didn’t get her.” She felt like something more was needed, somehow. “She went easy, in the end. And they didn’t get her. I made sure they didn’t get her.”

He nodded. “Thanks.” He slipped the ring onto his little finger and stared down at it.

The flames were dying, now, the ash of the pyres glowing orange-red. Rose felt oddly hollow - almost restless. Before, she had just been numb. They all had. She saw the glazed look in the pilot’s eyes as he stared down at the last thing he had to remind him of his sister. She understood it. 

But Poe was right: they were the sparks. It wasn’t enough to just remember Paige and Captain Lintra and the others. They had to _do_ something.

Rose only wished that she knew _what_.


	3. Chapter 3

The stars stretched impossibly beyond the ship. Rey had stared up at the night sky so many times from Jakku: a vast, distant scatter of lights, slowly rotating around the sky, cradling the planet, always the same. And now they were different. Everything was different.

“Can’t sleep?”

She turned to see a figure climbing down from one of the X-wings standing at the edge of the hangar. Poe wasn’t wearing his flight suit - just civilian clothes, not even a jacket. She wondered how long he’d been there. She hadn’t noticed him come in.

“No,” she said. “What were you doing up there?”

“Not sleeping,” he said, coming to join her at the hangar entrance, limping slightly. He looked out at the stars, his arms folded across his chest, his shoulders hunched.

“It… it all went wrong, didn’t it?” she said, after a while.

“Yeah.” Poe glanced at her sideways, arms still folded. “Yeah, it did.”

She nodded. There didn’t really seem to be anything else to say. It _had_ gone wrong. She had seen it herself, from the cockpit of her X-wing; she had seen the carnage below her, seen her wingmates blown out of the sky beside her. Their first real battle since the flight from D’Qar - the first battle on their own terms, the first step they had taken since they had lost General Organa and Luke and Admiral Ackbar…

And they had failed. They had _lost_. No matter how they had tried to spin it as a victory - that they had survived, that they had reminded the First Order that they wouldn’t give up, and that the fight wasn’t over - the Resistance had lost. She saw Poe’s shoulders rise and fall. 

“More martyrs,” he said, softly.

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Above them, the stars glittered, distant and cold. 

“Kylo Ren said that hope was worse than useless. That it was just a comforting lie,” she said, her voice small. “And Leia said that the difference was that lies never make themselves true. But… but hoping doesn’t seem to make something true, either.”

“General Organa was right. No-one ever changed anything by giving up,” said Poe, after a moment. “Don’t let him get into your head, Rey. Kylo Ren, he’s… he’s a monster.”

“I thought he was,” she said. “And then I- I saw into his mind, and… he’s not. He’s just a man. I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

“You saw into Kylo Ren’s _mind_?”

“He… on Ahch-To. On Luke’s island. We kept… I don’t know. Luke called it Force-Linking. I think Snoke did it, somehow. We kept… I could hear his thoughts. And he could hear mine. And sometimes I saw him. It was like…” She shook her head. “Luke was supposed to be training me to stop it. And I’m trying. But now it feels like it’s getting harder to. Sometimes I can feel… feel this _pressure_. And I think it’s him.” 

He looked alarmed. “He’s reading your thoughts?”

“No. I don’t think so. It’s different to… Snoke did, before Kylo Ren killed him. He was trying to get into my head, to find out where Luke was. But not like Ben did, it was different, he was _everywhere._ ” She felt a familiar panic rise in her and shuddered. “It was horrible. I never want to go through something like that again.”

Poe looked at her, his expression hard to read. “Finn ever tell you what happened when he rescued me on that Star Destroyer?”

She blinked, confused. “He… he said they captured you. Because you’d found the map to Luke. And then he broke you out, and you stole a TIE fighter, but then it got shot. And he thought you’d died.”

“Yeah. Sounds about right.” Poe was quiet for a long moment. “They… I mean, when they realised I didn’t have the map on me they tried to make me talk. And when that didn’t work, they sent Kylo Ren in. And he… I…” He shook his head. “He got into my head. He _broke_ into my head. I tried to stop him but… It was like he ripped the memories right out. And I couldn’t do anything about it. The only reason he didn’t get everything I know was that I passed out.” He gave a lopsided half-smile. “What with all of the screaming, I must’ve forgotten to breathe.”

They stood in silence for a while, both looking out at the stars. 

“It felt like he tore everything apart,” said Rey, quietly. “Burned it down. Until there was nothing left. I don’t… I don’t know what counts as _me_ any more. Everything that I thought I was… he pulled it down. I thought I could fight it - I thought I was stronger.”

“I know the feeling.”

“I thought I was fighting for… for the good side.” Rey pressed her lips together. “But then after that, I just… there was just… anger. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to _destroy_ him.”

“Blowing things up,” said Poe, wryly, “does not help as much as you’d think it would.”

She looked at him. “Luke said that the Light side was about letting your emotions go. So that they don’t control you. But I… I’m scared that the anger was the only thing Snoke _didn’t_ destroy. The only thing he couldn’t touch. Everything else feels… tarnished.”

“Scorched,” he agreed. “I know what you mean.”

“So how do we… What do we do?”

“I don’t know. Keep fighting, I guess.” He flashed a tired smile. “Keep hoping.”

“I don’t know if I can,” she admitted, her voice small. “It feels like everything I’ve hoped for has gone wrong.”

Poe glanced at her, pressing his lips together. The forcefield curtaining the hangar entrance hummed softly blue, quivering at the edges with little bursts of colour, tinging the brighter stars with faint halos. Rey shook her head, struggling to find the words. 

She was tired. Worn out and weighed down with everything that had happened, and heavy with fear of what the future held for them all. The fear that she couldn’t do it. That she didn’t have the strength to be a Jedi. That there was too much anger in her. 

“What was he like? Luke Skywalker?” Poe broke the silence. “You know, I spent months trying to find that map. Never even got to see him.”

“He- he-“ The words stuck in her throat. She tried again. “He was…” 

Poe looked at her in surprise. “Hey. Whoa. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“He wouldn’t train me!” she blurted out. “He wasn’t anything like he was supposed to be, he told me to go away, he threw his lightsaber away, he said that he _wanted_ the Jedi to end.”

He was staring at her, his brow furrowed, but she couldn’t stop. It was all spilling out, even though she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t tell anyone the truth about him - that Luke Skywalker, greatest legend in the galaxy, had _given up_.

“He said it was their fault the First Order existed, he said he had failed and he wouldn’t come back to make it right. I tried to make him come with me but he wouldn’t do it. I don’t know how he got on the ship. I don’t know why he died. I don’t know if he meant to do it. And then-“ She bit her lip, but the words were tumbling out of her and she couldn’t stop them. “He said he’d see me again. He said it on the ship, he told me to go. But he lied. He said he’d come back and he _lied_.”

Poe was still staring at her. “But you told us that he trained you - you said he came back, he sacrificed himself so that we could escape-”

“What was I supposed to say? He’s Luke Skywalker. Everyone thinks he’s a hero,” she cried. “Everyone wants him to be a hero. He _was_ a hero. He _did_ sacrifice himself for us. And everyone was relying on me.” She felt the panic welling up again. “Everyone’s _still_ relying on me. And I don’t… I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what my place is in all this.”

“You’re a Jedi, Rey. Whether Luke thought you were or not.” Poe looked back out towards the stars again and shook his head, just slightly. “You’ve gotta be.” 

 

* * *

 

“General.”

“Supreme Leader,” acknowledged Hux, giving the hologram the barest of nods. “I’ve received the full report of the battle.”

“And?” Kylo Ren leaned forwards on his throne.

“An unqualified victory,” said Hux, allowing the smugness to creep into his voice. “Captain Phasma reports minimal damage to the structural aspects of the base. They didn’t even get close to the gates. Our forces routed them utterly.”

Kylo Ren leaned backwards, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. “Good. The Resistance have weakened themselves still further with this move.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Hux tried to gauge Ren’s mood, and decided that it was time to press his advantage. “Captain Phasma led an excellent counterattack.”

“It is time for us to root them out for good, general,” said Ren, ignoring his hint. Hux felt a twinge of irritation. It had been _his_ idea to send Phasma to command key defences while she recovered from the implants after Galtuulan. Kylo Ren had been against it, insisting that she had failed them once too often. Hux had bargained him up to Sar Yonrac eventually… and had now been proven satisfyingly correct. 

Not that he had really expected Kylo Ren - _Supreme Leader_ Ren - to admit that.

“I want to know,” said Ren, “where their base is.”

“None of the prisoners taken from the battlefield will talk,” admitted Hux. “They all claim that the Resistance base was destroyed.”

Ren made a dismissive noise in the back of his throat. “We know that. They must have built a new one. I want to know where it is. Clearly you have not been interrogating them hard enough.”

Hux felt another stab of irritation. “We have been using methods proven to be effective before. Any harder and we would kill them. They all say the same: the Resistance has no permanent base.”

Ren scowled, and Hux felt a brief moment of pressure around his neck. He tried to prevent his face betraying anything. 

“They cannot hope to conceal the movements of a fleet of any size for long,” he said, ignoring the desire to loosen his collar. “If they do not have a permanent base it is because there are too few of them to do anything other than run.” He decided to take a further risk. “Supreme Leader, Sar Yonrac has proved that they are too few to oppose us. They no longer have the forces to be any threat to the First Order. We must shift our focus towards-“

“Enough!” snarled Ren. “I will not be told I _must_.”

“-Towards building our empire,” Hux continued, undeterred. “Everything Supreme Leader Snoke left unfinished.”

That was underhanded, he knew - and dangerous. Kylo Ren was apt to fly into one of his famous rages at the mere _mention_ of his former master. He hissed.

“I have no wish to pander to Snoke’s-“

“Then let me,” Hux said, quickly. “I will raise up the First Order until our name echoes across the galaxies. A new glorious era of order and prosperity.” 

The hologram of Kylo Ren was silent for a moment, his fingers clenching on the arms of the chair. 

“My Knights will continue the pursuit,” he said, eventually, his voice low and angry. “They will hunt the Resistance down and destroy it utterly. And _I_ will lead. I will take control of the systems, and I will restore law back to the galaxy, and I will do what even my grandfather could not. I will rule.”

 

* * *

 

“So.”

He looked around the makeshift command centre. The faces around the holo display were weary, their shoulders slumping, betraying the strain all of the commanders had been under for the past weeks. Poe understood that. He shared it. 

But he couldn’t show it.

“Our mission to Sar Yonrac could’ve gone better,” he said, ignoring the ache in his leg. “We managed to take out their communications satellite, but the operations base remains functional. We expect them to have it running again within the week.”

The commanders nodded. He saw Rose fold her arms. The tiny holo of Rey next to the console looked up from the lightsaber hilt she was tinkering with, frowning.

“Thanks to the quick actions of our ground commanders,” he nodded at Finn, and Major Brance, “we were able to withdraw the majority of our forces from the battle. Still, we’ve suffered losses and it’s not just the people we have to worry about. Captain Tico?”

She stepped forwards. “Um. We took major damage to our heavy ships after D’Qar, and to a lot of fighters as well. We’ve lost another eleven ships since then.” Rose shook her head. “We’ve… we’ve got a problem. Most of our equipment came from the Hosnian system: old ships and surplus from the Republic fleet. And the First Order destroyed all of it. We don’t have a way to replace stuff we’ve lost.” 

“We can’t afford another direct attack,” said Poe. “We’re gonna have to change our strategy. Fast hits, minor targets. We need time to rebuild our offensive capabilities, but we’re not just gonna let the First Order roll over the rest of the galaxy while we do it. We’re gonna keep stinging ‘em where it hurts. One good thing about what happened on Sar Yonrac - we know that our intel was broadly accurate. Finn?”

“Yeah. We’ve been analysing the information stolen from the First Order databanks. Most of what we’ve got is logistics: supply information, administration records, ship schematics, that sort of thing. It was high-level clearance. We can use that to our advantage to pick out key targets to disrupt the First Order’s plans.”

“And what are those plans?” asked Brance. 

Finn shook his head. “We’re not sure. These aren’t military orders, they’re basically just receipts for supplies. But they match up with what we know the First Order was doing before now, and we can use that to work out patterns for the future. They’ve been shipping stuff out to Starkiller Base for years, and it changes from raw materials to parts and then troop supplies…”

“So what about now? Is there another Starkiller on the horizon?”

Poe glanced at Finn, and then stepped forwards and pressed a few buttons on the holo display, trying not to limp too obviously. A starmap flickered up, with First Order outposts and supply lines marked in red. “Doesn’t look like it. They’re still midway through construction on a couple of dreadnoughts, but nothing on the scale of Starkiller. They seem to have changed their focus - spread out a bit. They’re supplying outposts on a dozen different planets. Snoke’s focus was mostly on destroying the Republic and building up a fleet of heavy battleships, but now that he’s gone it looks like Kylo Ren wants to oversee-” 

“Wait,” Rose blurted out. Everyone turned to her in surprise, and she suddenly looked nervous. “Um. Sorry. But… but do you mean that Snoke isn’t… that Snoke isn’t in the plans after what happened on D’Qar?”

“Yeah,” said Finn. “His name stops being on all of the orders and supply lists and stuff.”

Poe frowned. “Obviously. Because he’s dead. Kylo Ren killed him.”

She twisted her hands together anxiously. “Um. But… didn’t you say you got them on Galtuulan? When you were trying to get rid of Finn’s tracker?”

“Yes, in the First Order databanks…” Poe trailed off, his eyes wide, as the realisation hit him. “ _Oh_.”

“Before Snoke was killed,” said Finn, wonderingly. “These databanks are from _before Snoke was killed_.”

“How the hell didn’t I see that before?” said Poe, holding his head in his hands as the other commanders murmured in shock. Rey had dropped her saber hilt offscreen, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. Even Admiral Statura - bandaged, haggard and pale in his chair - looked surprised. 

Rose flushed. “So… why did they take him out of the plans? How could they have known?”

“They couldn’t,” said Finn. “Unless…”

“Unless Supreme Leader Snoke _knew_ he was about to die,” said Major Brance, sounding uncertain. “But… what does that mean?”

“Rey,” said Finn, leaning closer to the holo. “You were there, what do you…?”

“I don’t _think_ so,” she said, uncertainly, the transmission flickering. “He said that everything was going according to plan, but… I don’t think he was expecting Ren to kill him. He thought that he was going to kill _me_.” 

“How the hell could they have known?” muttered Poe. “Surely they wouldn’t have _planned_ something like that?”

“We need to know more,” said Rose. “About Snoke and Ren and the Force and… and all of it. Maybe there’s something we missed.”

“I’ll keep looking through the books,” said Rey. She sounded doubtful. “But I don’t know how much use they’ll be. They’re really old. Mostly it’s a lot of vague stuff about balance and patterns and energy. I don’t know - they’re hard to understand.” 

Offscreen, Chewie roared something. Rey turned her head. 

“Oh! Right! You could ask Maz about it,” said Rey. “She told me she knows the Force. And Han said she’s run that bar for thousands of years. Maybe she knows something.”

“Good idea,” said Finn. A flicker of anxiety crossed his face. “Uh - not sure she’ll be too happy to see us again, though…”

“In the meantime, we’ll go back into the databanks,” said Captain Connix. “We’ll comb through for any hints of what’s going on. And what their plans might be next. There has to be _something_.”

“Yeah. Good,” said Poe, still trying to get his head around the implications. He stared at the starmap for a moment, feeling thoroughly off-balance. “Okay. Until then, we’ve gotta keep moving.” He shook his head, trying to clear it. “We’ve got two main strategies - disrupt their supplies, disrupt their communications. We force them to spread their forces out and defend every weak spot. Every time they try to move into an area, we cut ‘em off, we starve ‘em out, we force ‘em back. We don’t engage directly until we’re sure we’re gonna win.”

He saw some of the other commanders look at him in surprise. Those kind of tactics were the exact _opposite_ of what they must have expected from him; normally his name was a byword for pulling off a ridiculous plan and blowing something up against impossible odds. But Sar Yonrac and D’Qar had finally taught him the truth of General Organa’s words. You didn’t win a war like this with martyrs. 

When he was just a pilot had been able to get away with it. When it was other people’s lives on the line, it wasn’t the kind of risk he could take. 

“We’ve picked out a few early targets based on what we know,” he said. “Finn, what’ve you got?”

“Two communications relays, here and here,” said Finn, pointing. “Poorly defended, judging by the supplies being sent there. And a manufacturing plant here. It’s not First Order, but it seems to be their main supplier of TIE fighters.”

“Could do with a few less of those,” joked Captain Kun. 

Poe grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. I think we could do with a few more, don’t you, Rose?”

“Uh… no? Not unless they’re on our side,” said Rose, looking confused.

“Yeah, exactly,” he said. “Think you can do it? Get into the factory, mess up their manufacturing line, and then scoop up as many fighters as you can find and bring ‘em back?”

Her eyes went wide. “But… I can’t fly a TIE fighter.”

“None of us can,” Kun pointed out. 

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” said Finn, flashing Poe a quick grin.

“We’ve got the schematics,” he reminded them. “And we’ve got some of the best pilots in the galaxy. I think we’ll be able to figure it out.”


	4. Chapter 4

Rey took a breath, focused her mind… and opened it out again, letting the Force flow around her. The alignment had to be perfect, the book had said. If it wasn’t, the entire thing might explode in her face. It had reassured her that if that happened, it was unlikely to shatter the crystals - but had been notably silent on whether _she_ would survive the blast. She wasn’t keen on finding out. 

She had hoped that the old Jedi texts would have been more use. She had felt guilty enough about stealing them from the temple in the first place, but she didn’t think Luke would have been too happy to know that she was reading them, and he had found her so easily the first time… 

Not that it really mattered now. What difference did it make, what Luke had wanted? He had _lied_. He had said that he wouldn’t come back - and that had been a lie. He had called her his padawan, and that had been a lie too. And then he had promised that he would see her again, and that was the worst lie of all.

So she still had no idea of what she was doing, and no idea if what she was trying to do was even possible. There had been two crystals in Luke’s hilt, but one of them had cracked in half when the lightsaber had broken. She had tried to design the hilt around it, but she wasn’t sure… what if they had been damaged? What if her design was missing some crucial part?

She had worked out how to make the blade half by poking around at the broken hilt, and half by puzzling at the books until she had come up with something which vaguely chimed with her knowledge of how energy gates and modulation circuits worked. She was, if she was honest with herself, guessing.

But the Resistance needed hope, and it needed a symbol, and - no matter how desperately out of her depth she felt - it needed _her_. Not just Rey, desert scavenger, abandoned daughter of junkers: Rey, lightsaber-wielding heir to Luke Skywalker and the Jedi order. No matter how Luke had felt about the Jedi - about _her_ …

She felt her focus slipping and closed her eyes, stretching out into the Force, feeling the strange rush and flow of it, the ever-shifting balance. The second crystal wasn’t quite there; something about it was wrong, jarring, grating against her. Rey adjusted its housing a hairs-width, trying to find the point where it… yes, there- no. Too far. In her mind, it snagged like a piece of cloth caught on a wire.

The air was cold in the cave. Her breath was misting in front of her. It should have been almost totally dark, but somehow the light was shining through patches of smoothed ice above her and reflecting off the walls and making the entire cave glow blue. The entire _planet_ had seemed to glow blue, from orbit, apart from the scars: slashes of dark rock and spurts of lava like blood oozing from a wound. It had looked as if some giant beast had mauled it, leaving it ragged. 

It had felt like it, too, when she had reached the surface. The whole planet felt tarnished. Wrong, somehow. Even when she had managed to find the cave entrance, digging away the chunks of ice and rock with numbed hands… the feeling lingered. Less than on the surface - but still there, like the knotted ridge of an old scar. Perhaps she wasn’t supposed to be here. Perhaps she was in the wrong place. 

But then… somehow, strangely… it felt right, as well. Under the wrongness, there was that same echoing hollowness she had felt on Ahch-To. Like… like the inside of a wrecked Star Destroyer, when something had disturbed the dust and sand, and the whole empty space was filled with glittering specks of gold and light. 

No, she needed to be here. 

And she needed to get this right. Everyone was relying on her. Rey refocused her mind, concentrating on every tiny movement, the crystals humming minutely beneath her fingers. 

_Perfect_. She wasn’t sure how she knew - but somehow, the feel of them had clicked into place, smooth and flawless, like an uninterrupted stream of water in her mind. Yes. That was right. That would work. Probably. Maybe. She hoped. 

She checked the housing and then tightened the casing around them, her fingers shaking. She wasn’t really sure whether she _wanted_ it to work. Obviously, she didn’t want to blow herself up - but then if it _did_ work, then she would have to really do it. Become a Jedi. Or at least - become the Resistance’s idea of one. And then she’d actually have to _use_ the lightsaber, to be a symbol of the fight against the First Order, with the expectations of half of the galaxy on her shoulders…

But then what if it _didn’t_ work? What if she couldn’t do it? What if she really was just Rey, some nobody from Jakku? She had no idea what she was doing. She was just fooling herself that she could manage _any_ of this. With what - just some vague ideas about balance and a few dusty old books from millennia ago? How was that supposed to help _anyone_?

She stared at the reflection of herself in the nearest wall. She could do this on her own. She could manage alone. She’d _always_ managed alone.

And she’d never wanted to. 

The lightsaber hilt was shaking in her hand. Was that why Luke had refused to train her? Because he’d seen that darkness, that longing for something she’d never had, that fear and that anger and that pain? Snoke had seen it. Snoke had _praised_ it.

She’d seen it in Kylo Ren, too - a warped mirror of her own, but a mirror nonetheless. She could see the space behind her reflection beginning to cloud, the darkness gathering around her, blotting out the rest of the cave, blotting out the light, coming for her, coming _from_ her, swallowing her-

Rey whirled round, activating the lightsaber without even thinking about it. White light blazed from both ends, the hum of the double blades magnified by the walls of the cave, the ice splintering the light and reflecting it back at her.

There was nothing there.

 

* * *

 

The fighter hangar was silent. Bandit Squadron’s progress along its edges was unnervingly loud to Rose’s ears, even though they were all trying to keep as quiet as possible. The factory was in low-power, and from Snap’s reconnaissance flights they hoped that it would stay that way until daylight returned to the moon - another sixteen hours away. Most of the workers would have gone home. But _most_ didn’t mean _all_ \- they had already had to take out three perimeter guards to get in, and two security droids. R2 had sliced a repeating loop onto the monitoring systems, but there were bound to be others, and just one was enough to raise the alarm…

At the front of the squadron, Captain Pava raised her hand for halt. Bandit Squadron had been formed specifically for this mission: a ragtag bunch of pilots from all over the Resistance. Black Squadron, Blue Squadron, Stiletto, transport pilots, medics - anyone who could fly. Rose didn’t know most of them; she hadn’t had much to do with the fighters as a flagship mechanic. The only pilots she’d known had been in Cobalt squadron. But they were friendly enough, and somehow their cheerful jokes and banter on the transport had helped her feel a little less nervous about the mission. They didn’t care about going undercover into enemy territory. This was _less_ dangerous than what most of them were used to.

Jessika nodded to Rose, motioning with her chin towards the centre of the hangar. “There they are,” she murmured.

The TIE fighters were much bigger than she’d thought they would be - but then, Rose had never seen one up close. The solar cells on the wings had a strange velvety sheen to them, the cockpits glossy black and silver, glowing like hot coals in the red of the safety lights. 

“Scout the exits,” said Jessika, quietly, to the nearest of the pilots. “We’ll get the hangar on lockdown while we prep ‘em. Captain Tico, go with ‘em. Take R2. See if you can find somewhere to lay the charges that’ll really mess things up.” 

They split up, and Rose found herself hurrying along behind someone she recognised - Captain Lintra’s brother. She hadn’t even seen him since the funeral. He gave her a nod and a brief smile as they made their way towards the walkway at the far end of the hangar, still keeping to the edges, pausing to wait for R2 every so often as the droid trundled behind them. 

“So what are we doing, captain?” he asked, once they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Trying to find a way to sabotage the factory,” she said. “Something like a load-bearing structure, or a generator, or fuel storage…”

He nodded. “I’ll watch out for guards, then,” he said, and then paused. “You were… you were the one who brought back Tallie’s ring, weren’t you?”

She felt her stomach churn unpleasantly. “Yeah.”

“Sorry. I was… I was pretty messed up that day.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to thank you properly. And I don’t think I even found out your name.” He stuck out a hand. “Daven Lintra.” 

She took it. “Rose Tico.” 

His eyes widened. “You’re - you’re Rose Tico? _That_ Rose Tico?”

“Uh-“ Rose felt the heat creeping into her cheeks. 

“You’re the one who got us out of D’Qar - got the fleet to hyperspace when the First Order took out our engines.”

“Oh. Um. Yeah. I guess I am.”

“It’s an honour, Captain Tico,” he said, and she flushed even harder. He actually sounded as if he meant it. She realised how unnatural her rank still sounded, especially hearing it out of someone else’s mouth. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get used to it.

“Um.” She realised that she should probably say something more. “Thanks. We should… uh, we should go, though.”

The corridor beyond the hangar was only dimly lit, but empty. Rose’s heart was thudding as they made their way through it. They had only had time to briefly look at the buildings from orbit, so she wasn’t sure where she was going, or even what she was looking for. She just hoped that she’d know it when she saw it…

The door at the end hissed open. It took Rose a few seconds to register what was on the other side. 

She was backing away, already, turning and almost slamming straight into Daven, pushing past him. 

“Captain?”

She twisted free as he tried to catch her arm, running down the corridor, down the walkway, down the stairs, across the hangar. She skidded to a stop, panting, beside Captain Pava. She wasn’t sure what to say. She wasn’t even sure she could speak.

“…Jessika?”

“Yeah?”

“Where do… where did the Republic get its fighters from?”

Something in her voice must have caught Jessika’s attention; she turned to look at Rose properly.

“Captain, what’s going on?” asked Daven, at her elbow.

“There’s…” Rose took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “There’s a hangar next to this one. Full of X-wings. Brand new X-wings.”

Jessika’s mouth opened in shock. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.” She felt sick. It was bad enough that it was a hangar full of ships commissioned for people who were long dead. It was worse that they were barely twenty metres away from the fighters which they were designed to defend against. That they had been made in the same factory. By the same people.

“Show me.” Jessika had taken her by the arm, was practically propelling her towards the hangar door. 

The X-wings were standing in gleaming, perfect rows - sleek and beautiful, the lights shining off the metal. Rose could already see a few improvements on the previous designs: cleaner lines, better positioning of the thermosinks, extra retrothrusters tucked under the wings…

Jessika had the light of a fanatic in her eyes.

“Oh, _look_ , they updated the mag-pulse launchers, and that’s the latest shield generator design, and they’ve got new thrusters on a gyroscopic mounting…” she breathed. “This must be the T-90. I didn’t think even the Republic had any yet.” She sighed, covetously. “I _want_ one.”

Rose couldn’t speak. That anyone could do this-

And how long had it been going on for? How long had the Republic and the First Order been buying weapons from the same company? Had they known about it? Were the people who were making these ships playing them off against each other - putting in deliberate weaknesses, deliberate flaws, making sure that they would always be evenly matched? How many pilots and gunners and flight crews had been killed because of it?

She thought of her sister. Paige had really, truly believed in the Resistance. She had given her life for it. For the idea that one day, hope might win. The galaxy would be free from tyranny. Peace would reign. 

But how could that come true in a galaxy where people like _this_ existed? Not fighting for their ideals, however wrong-headed they might be. Not even fighting. Just letting other people kill each other and profiting from every skirmish, every battle, every war. Every fresh ship shot down, no matter whose side it belonged to. Stirring up every disagreement, adding fuel to the flames of every quarrel, standing behind factions on the brink of war and giving them that one final push-

She fought down the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, gripping onto the railing so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

“Hey,” said Daven, behind her. “You okay?”

She shook her head, mutely. She didn’t think there was a way to articulate what she was feeling. 

“Sons of banthas,” he muttered, coming up beside her to stare at the X-wings, his shoulders hunched as he braced his hands on the railing. Jessika was already walking around the nearest one, occasionally reaching out a hand to stroke its gleaming hull almost reverently. “They’ve been playing both sides. Sons of banthas.”

Rose shook her head again, trying to get a grip on herself. The mission. Remember the mission.

Perhaps they were desperate people, the ones who were doing this. Perhaps they had been subject to war and tyranny for so long that they had been driven to…

No. They _hadn’t_. That was the worst part. There had been _peace_ in the galaxy, after the Empire had been defeated. And people like this had destroyed it. She had always wondered how it was that the First Order had been able to become so strong, so quickly. Now she knew. Because there were people like _this_ to help them. 

“How… how can anyone do this? How can we win when there’s people like this?” she whispered.

They both gazed at the ships. The hangar was dark, apart from the few safety lights on the ships and the walkways. The polished floor shone dully beneath them, smooth and unmarked as if no-one had ever stepped on it. The fighters gleamed in their rows like racers in a stable.

Daven looked at her sideways. “We can’t. Not totally. Not forever. We’re not trying to.” He stared back out at the fighters, frowning. “We’re just trying not to lose.” 

Perhaps winning didn’t matter. Perhaps it was just about fighting to save as many people as you could for as long as you could. 

Perhaps Paige had understood that better than she had.

“Yeah.” Rose pressed her lips together and lifted her chin to stop the tears on her eyelashes falling. “Okay. And we’re not gonna lose _today_.”

Jessika had managed to tear herself away from the fighters, her eyes still bright. “We need to talk to the others,” she said. “This changes things.”

They hurried back to the hangar, and the pilots went into a huddle while Jessika told them what she’d seen. Rose saw several of them react with the same shock and horror she had felt. But through that, she was beginning to think. It was the same feeling she’d had after the funeral. She wanted to do _something_. Something that would really make a difference.

“What do we do now?” asked one of them, looking anxious. “Do we stick to the plan?

“Just leave them? Take the TIE fighters and-?”

“No, we’ve gotta take the X-wings,” decided Jessika. “This is too good an opportunity to pass up.” 

“Gotta admit, I wasn’t looking forwards to trying to sneak out in a TIE fighter I’d never flown before,” said Threnalli. 

“So we take the X-wings. What about the TIEs?”

“Blow ‘em all up?” suggested one of the other pilots. “Can’t leave them here for the First Order.”

“Take the whole factory down,” said another. “We’ve got the charges - and they deserve it and more.” The others murmured agreement. 

“No. If we destroy the factory they’ll only rebuild.” Rose said, startling even herself. “I wanna _ruin_ them. I’m gonna to make it so that no-one will ever buy fighters from them again.” She set her jaw. “I know what I want to do.”

The others were looking at her oddly. 

“You sure about this?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “You get the X-wings. I’ll take care of the TIE fighters.”

Jessika looked at Daven. “You go with her,” she said. “Make sure she doesn’t get herself into trouble.” 

He nodded, and Jessika hurried away, the rest of the pilots jogging after her. 

“So, captain. What’s the plan?” he asked, looking at her slightly warily.

She winced. “Can you - do you mind not calling me that?”

He glanced at her, confused. “But… You are a captain.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a real captain. Not like Jessika is. Or Captain Connix. It still feels wrong.”

His frown deepened. “I don’t think I understand.”

“Yeah. I don’t either. I just… I don’t like being called a captain. Just ‘Rose’ is fine.”

“Okay.” He looked a little lost. “But… you are a captain, right? I mean, your badge says-”

“But I’m _not_.” She took a breath. “I’m not supposed to be. The only reason Vice-Admiral Holdo made me a captain was that I was _there_. I was the only one left. I didn’t _do_ anything. Everyone keeps treating me like a real captain and I’m not.”

“You fixed the hyperdrive,” Daven pointed out. “You saved an entire shipful of people. Half of the Resistance owe their lives to you. I doubt there are many commanders in the Resistance who can say as much.”

“But that’s got nothing to do with being in charge! Just because I can fix stuff doesn’t mean I can do anything else!”

“Honestly, Rose? I think the fact that you’re worrying about this probably means that Vice-Admiral Holdo made the right decision.” He nudged her gently with an elbow. “Maybe you should trust her judgement.”

She shrugged. “Still feels weird.”

“Rose it is, then. You’ve got a plan?”

“Yeah,” she said, unhooking a roll of tools from her belt. “I think so.”

“You need any help?”

“Not for the fighters. I’ll need R2 for the production line. And it might take a while to do them all.”

He checked the blaster pistol at his waist. “Okay. I’ll watch for anyone coming. If you hear me whistle, hide and don’t come out.”

She worked as quickly as she could, trying to leave no trace, working out how to get into the TIE’s main systems without damaging their outer shell. If she was honest, she wasn’t totally sure what she was trying to do. She just knew that she wanted to do _something_. Something to really screw them up, some kind of major fault which would only become obvious when it was _really important_ …

She stared at the wiring and pipes and fuel lines of the first fighter, her mind racing. Disable the shields? No, too obvious. Jam the ion cannon pressure regulators? No, that would set off the warning systems long before they tried to fire, if they were designed with any sense. Put a minor leak in the thruster lines? No, that would just make them harder to handle, it wouldn’t be enough. 

It needed to be cleverer than that - more damaging, more subtle. She wanted it to bring down the entire factory - something that would mean that no-one would ever trust them to build fighters again. A fault that was catastrophic enough that they’d have no chance in the next battle they fought…

Oh.

_Oh_.

It was _perfect_. Such a simple thing, so easy to do, so hard to detect. It wouldn’t set off the warning systems at all, not until it was too late. And it would mean… yes, it would make them practically useless in their next fight, and they probably wouldn’t even work out why. They might not even think that there was anything wrong at all, until they realised that their fighters were being destroyed by the dozens and began to question whether the new design had anything to do with it. And then… no, the factory would never sell another fighter after a mess-up like this.

She worked frantically fast once she had finished the first one. There was no way to test whether it would work, of course - but here, at least, she knew her confidence wasn’t misplaced. Rose was completely lost on battlefields and in strategy meetings and command centres, but she _belonged_ here, among wires and bolts and circuits and cells. It was going to work. It was going to work, and it was really, really going to _help_. 

She was almost bouncing with excitement by the time she finished the last one, even though her fingers were aching and blistered and her knees were sore from kneeling to uncover the panels. Daven was talking quietly with Jessika, both of their expressions tense, as she hurried over to them.

“Done?”

“Yeah.” She couldn’t stop the grin spreading over her face. 

He raised his eyebrows at her. “So what’d you do to them?”

“It’s undetectable, unless you know what you’re looking for,” she said, excitedly. “I’ve disrupted the connection between the thermal capacitor and the insulation circuits of the hyperbaric fuel chamber. Not totally - that would trigger the warning systems - but-“

“In Basic, please,” said Jessika.

“Uh… They won’t be able to cope with a sudden temperature increase,” said Rose. “So if you get a blaster shot anywhere near… it’ll explode instantly. Even if the shields are up. See, shields usually dissipate the energy of a blaster shot as heat, so-”

“So… you’ve turned an entire fleet of TIE fighters into one-hit wonders,” said Daven, slowly. “One shot and _boom_.”

“Yeah. Exactly. As long as it’s close enough to the fuel chamber, yeah.”

“Rose, has anyone ever told you that you’re brilliant?”

She flushed. “Um. No. I mean… yes. I mean- uh, thanks?”

Daven flashed her a quick smile. “They’ll never be able to sell another TIE fighter again, after the First Order realise what you’ve done.”

“Yeah.” She touched the pendant, the metal cold on her fingers. “Good.”

 

* * *

 

Takodana was exactly as green as Finn remembered it. He hadn’t been sure what to expect, when they had skimmed down over the lake and the site of Maz’s bar had come into view. The last time he’d seen it, it had been a smoking wreck. And despite Poe’s assurances, he wasn’t sure that Maz wouldn’t blame _him_ for that. 

She had rebuilt, he saw. In the - had it really only been two months? - in the two months since it had been destroyed, most of the main structure had already been repaired. Old worn stone jumbled together with new, some of the outer walls still only half-finished. The inner courtyard was already draped with a thousand new flags, their colours bright. 

Poe throttled down in one of the outer landing areas and immediately threw himself into an animated conversation with a grumpy-looking Togruta about refuelling costs. Finn stared out over the lake, struggling to reconcile the scene with the carnage he remembered: smoking ruins, bodies sprawled, blaster fire… 

He could see traces of it, still - blackened marks on some of the stones, little piles of rubble scattered around, the splintered ruins of a few trees on the edge of the forest. Maz certainly hadn’t wasted any time. 

“You’re _sure_ she won’t mind?” he asked, for what must have been the eighth time, staring up at the flags as they walked into the main courtyard. The sun was shining through them, making the stone beneath glow with a hundred different colours. Poe grinned at his nervousness and clapped him on the shoulder. 

“If she does, buddy, it’s too late now,” he said, and pushed open the doors.

The bar was dark after the bright daylight outside, the air rich with smoke and spices and the tang of a hundred different species crowded in together. Finn could hardly hear the music over the chatter and clicks and beeps and growls of people clustered around the tables and gaming boards. He was almost impressed; Maz’s clientele clearly hadn’t been put off by the small matter of the First Order levelling it to the ground.

“Aha! Two men who can’t stop running,” cried Maz over the din, spreading her hands from a seat by the bar. “One away from danger, the other towards.”

“Maz,” said Poe, warmly. “It’s been too long.”

“Yes. I haven’t seen you since you blew up my bar, Poe Dameron.”

“That wasn’t me, Maz.”

“Mmm,” she said, wiggling her hand. “Not all of it, I’ll give you that. And you…” She squinted up at Finn, fiddling with her goggles so that her eyes grew huge. “Hm. Not so much of a runner any more, I see. I heard about Han. And the Skywalkers. And the girl.” She settled back on her chair. “Now tell me what was so important you couldn’t say it over a holo. Or did you just need a drink?”

“I _could_ do with a drink,” said Poe. “That isn’t why we came.”

“We wanna know about Snoke. About Kylo Ren,” Finn clarified, as Maz waved over a droid to serve them. 

Actually, he wasn’t totally sure why they’d come in person. Poe had claimed that there was too great a risk of a long-distance holo link being intercepted - but Finn suspected it had something more to do with the tension that had dropped from his shoulders as soon as they’d cleared the _Raddus’_ hangar. Perhaps he’d just needed a break.

Maz snapped her goggles back to normal size and gestured for them both to take a seat.

“About the Dark Side,” she corrected. “You want to know about the Dark Side of the Force.”

“From the information we have,” said Poe, “it looks like… as if Snoke _knew_ what was going to happen. As if he knew he was going to die.”

“Could he have? Can they… can Jedi sense it?” asked Finn, leaning forwards eagerly.

“Sense their own death? No.” Maz looked thoughtful. “And Snoke is no Jedi. The Dark side gives many powers which are not shared by the Light, but I do not believe that is one of them. However…” She twisted her mouth thoughtfully. “They are driven by hunger, by greed, by lust for power. It comes with a price: jealousy and betrayal. The Sith could never tolerate anyone threatening their power. They were their own enemies as much as enemies of the Light.” 

“The Sith?”

“Dark side users. They were formed by a separatist group of Jedi, many thousands of years ago. At their height, there were many. But they tore themselves apart. Only the strongest survive. Since the fall of the Sith, there are only ever two. The master teaches the apprentice, who then rises above the master to replace him and take on a new apprentice. For thousands of years, this pattern has only repeated itself.”

“So… Snoke knew that one day Kylo Ren would replace him.”

Maz nodded. “Enough apprentices have murdered their masters before him; he would have known that Kylo Ren would try eventually. Whether he judged that he was powerful enough to succeed…” She spread her hands again. “Who can say?”

Finn fiddled with his drink, frowning. “What about… Rey told me that she was trying to stop Kylo Ren getting into her head. Like… like he was reading her mind. She said Snoke linked them.”

Maz’s wrinkles creased. “The power to create a Force bond between two individuals is not one to be taken lightly. Nor are its effects on the people involved. Snoke… the Dark Side takes many forms, creates many patterns. His pattern is perhaps one the galaxy has seen before. Rey saw him? Did she say what he looked like? Twisted, old? Scarred? Sunken?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so,” said Finn. “She said he was all wrinkled and bony and grey. Like half of his face had caved in.”

“The Dark Side torments its users. Corrupts them. Over time, it consumes their flesh as well. Over time,” she mused, and then raised her head. “The Sith were able to keep themselves hidden from the Jedi for thousands of years. Perhaps one was able to keep hidden from others of his own kind, as well. The only way to avoid the cycle.” She closed her eyes and let her head drop for a moment. “Hmm.”

“But… it doesn’t really matter who he was, right?” said Poe. “He’s dead. Kylo Ren chopped him in half.”

Maz’s eyes snapped open. “It _does_ matter,” she said, rapping his knuckles with a drink stirrer. “You think it is easy, to hide from the Force? You think that kind of ability is common? The Sith would have hunted down and killed any former master they knew to be alive. The kind of power to avoid that is hard to eradicate from the galaxy.”

“So some Sith Lord manages to fake his own death,” said Poe. “Get the other Dark Side users off his back. Why come back now and then just die all over again?”

“Exactly,” said Maz. “If he really is dead.”

“No, he’s dead,” said Finn. “Rey said Kylo Ren sliced him in half. Literally _in half_. People don’t survive that.”

Maz cackled, suddenly. “Not in my experience, no.” 

Poe raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to ask, Maz?”

“You don’t. Perhaps it doesn’t matter, then.” She removed her goggles and began cleaning them with a rag. “These haven’t been the same since you blew up the place, you know. They got scratched.” She squinted up at Finn. “How’s the girl?”

“Rey? She’s… she’s fine. I think. I dunno. She’s been… different, ever since she found Luke. I think she’s… I dunno.” He chewed his lip.

“Mmm,” said Maz. “She’s another one who likes to run. Away from her own destiny, I think. But she took the lightsaber? Ha! I would give a lot to have seen the look on Skywalker’s face.” She slid down from her seat. “A shame, about him. And his sister. And Solo. How’s my boyfriend, by the way?” She laughed at their blank looks. “The wookie.”

“Chewbacca’s… quiet.”

“Tell him to come by, next time. It’s been too long.” Maz picked up an empty nearby tray. “And if you’re done asking for a brief history of the past few thousand years of Force-users, I have other customers to serve. Unless you’re planning on exploding my castle again.”

Poe put a hand on his heart. “Would I?”

“You’d blow up your own foot if I put the blaster in your hand and pointed it down,” she said, amused. 

“Always a pleasure talking with you, Maz.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “Bring the wookie, next time.”

Finn remembered what Han Solo had said about her - _she’s a bit of an acquired taste_ \- and thought wryly that the old Rebel hadn’t been wrong. 

“I… guess that was useful,” he said, dubiously, once she was out of earshot.

Poe shrugged. “Well, at least we know that there aren’t any more we have to deal with now. Just Kylo Ren. And why Snoke might have known he wasn’t gonna be around much longer.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Finn fidgeted with his drink. “Maybe Rey’ll have found something more in her books. Should we get back, then?”

Poe took a swig of his drink and then checked his wrist. “Nah, we’ve got another half-hour or so before the hyperdrive recharges fully. We’re at the edge of the jump limit as it is. Don’t wanna end up stranded halfway between here and the base.”

“So what do we do? I guess we could go over plans for-”

“Ever heard of the concept of ‘relaxing for five minutes’?” Poe raised an eyebrow, and Finn saw an alarming gleam creep into his eyes. “Oh, wait, there’s this really great lake outside…”

“No, Poe.”

He ignored him. “And you _did_ promise, after Galtuulan…”

“ _No,_ Poe,” said Finn. “I said it would be a good idea. I didn’t say I’d do it.”

“There are worse places to learn to swim, Finn.”

“Yeah, and there are better places too. Places that aren’t all… cold. And… probably have… some kind of weird lake-creatures in them.”

Poe’s grin broadened. “Don’t tell me you’re scared,” he teased.

“Yeah I’m scared! Do you remember what happened last time? I nearly drowned. And you nearly drowned. And then we nearly both got shot. _Again._ ”

“I did say I was sorry about that,” said Poe, trying and completely failing to look contrite. 

“And you can _prove_ you’re sorry by not making me jump in a freezing-cold lake this time,” said Finn, triumphantly. “I’m supposed to be enjoying the first twenty minutes I’ve had in weeks of _not_ being shot at or chased or thrown in a river or… or whatever. Don’t you dare ruin it for me.”

Poe learned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, still grinning. “Yeah, alright. Fair point. So what do stormtroopers do in their time off, anyway? I’m guessing it isn’t, you know, sitting around knitting woolly hats for their droids.”

“…Tell me you haven’t-?” said Finn, struggling with the mental image of BB-8 in a bobble hat.

“What? No - no!” Poe flashed him a wolfish grin. “Okay, maybe once. Penalty for losing a drinking game. Never go up against a Duros, Finn, they’ve got this weird metabolism thing where their aim actually gets _better_ after a few drinks, or something…”

“I’m just impressed that you can knit,” said Finn, biting his lip in an effort not to laugh.

“I can’t,” said Poe, cheerfully. “Looked _awful_.” He chuckled, obviously remembering. “And it wouldn’t stay on his head, we had to tie it on with a bit of string, and even then it kept falling off-”

The group on the table next to theirs looked around in annoyance as Finn snorted into his drink and BB-8 let out a stream of what sounded like protesting Binary from under the table. 

“Yeah, no,” said Finn, after he had managed to recover. “Never got up to anything like that.” He tried to remember. “Never really… got up to anything, I guess. We didn’t get much free time, and even then you were supposed to be in the sparring rooms or learning the training manuals or sleeping or… yeah.”

Poe was staring at him. “I will never understand how you managed to turn out as… well, as _normal_ as you are, buddy. I mean, not that you’re normal, you’re pretty damn… well, uh, yeah, but you’re not… you know, you’re not _insane_.”

He shrugged again. “Yeah, me neither. Although looking at what my life’s been like in the past few weeks, you might need to define ‘not insane’.” 

“Ha!” Poe grinned. “Okay, fine, you’re not any more insane than the rest of us.”

“Y’know, that could almost be a compliment if I didn’t know who ‘the rest of us’ were.” Finn’s smile faded. “You think Rey’s gonna be alright?”

To his credit, Poe didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I’d be pretty messed up, if I was constantly having to push Kylo Ren out of my head.” His mouth twisted. “But she seems to be holding up… I mean, she’s pretty tough.”

“Yeah,” said Finn, trying to ignore the worry creeping up on him. “Yeah, she is. I just… if Snoke really did link their minds, then… why?”

“Wasn’t it just to make Rey go to him? So that he could find out where Luke Skywalker was?”

“Snoke didn’t even really care about that, though,” said Finn. “Kylo Ren did. Our orders, when we went to Jakku - when you got captured. They were to retrieve the datafile or destroy it. Snoke just wanted to stop the Resistance getting hold of it.”

Poe was silent for a long moment. “So what does that mean?”

“Alright,” said Finn, pushing his drink out of the way and leaning across the table. “So Snoke’s the Master, and Kylo Ren is the apprentice. So Snoke knew that at some point Kylo Ren would try to kill him and take his place.”

“Right.” 

“That’s why his name disappears from the datafile.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And before that happened, he links Kylo Ren and Rey’s minds. Makes a bond between them.”

“Without either of them realising it was him. At least at first.”

“Which doesn’t make sense, because Snoke can see that Kylo Ren is already, y’know, not sure about stuff, and Rey’s gonna try to persuade him to come over to the Light, right? Which is the _opposite_ of what Snoke wants.”

“Unless…” Poe shook his head. “Unless Snoke was hoping that it would be the other way round. That Kylo Ren would persuade Rey over to the Dark instead. Maybe he wanted Rey to be his apprentice.”

“But he already had an apprentice. And Maz said there’s only ever one.” Finn shook his head, frowning. “Anyway, Rey would _never_ join Snoke. She’d rather die.”

“But… what about Kylo Ren?”

“She felt sorry for him,” said Finn, reluctantly. “She wanted to help him, she said.”

“Finn…” Poe looked truly alarmed now. “What if Snoke planned it all along? What if he did it so that Rey would go over to the Dark Side? Become Kylo Ren’s apprentice?” 

“Then… then it didn’t work,” said Finn, trying to sound more certain than he felt. “Because Rey _didn’t_ become Kylo Ren’s apprentice. If that was Snoke’s plan, then it failed.”

“Yeah,” said Poe, slowly. “Yeah. Let’s hope it did.”


	5. Chapter 5

It was certainly an impressive ship.

Hux had to give it that, even if he’d been opposed to virtually all of Kylo Ren’s plans since becoming Supreme Leader. The man was like a child, throwing all of his toys away simply because they’d first belonged to Snoke. He had even tried to have _Supremacy_ broken up for scrap metal before Hux had finally managed to persuade him that the First Order’s resources - while considerable - were not bottomless enough to justify such a colossal waste. And even then, Ren had demanded that the damaged ship was modified and redesigned and rebuilt until she was barely recognisable.

_Ascendancy._ He had even insisted on renaming her. 

Foolishness. Not that Hux gave a damn - give her enough turbolasers and ion cannons and Ren could have named the thing _Jar Jar Binks_ for all he cared - but the stormtroopers were a superstitious lot. Renaming a ship was not something to be done lightly, and he had already heard of whispers that the First Order’s flagship was now cursed. 

He’d squashed them, of course, but he knew that for every rumour he shut down, a thousand more were brewing under the surface. The recent victory on Sar Yonrac certainly helped with morale - but Kylo Ren’s tantrums were making the junior officers nervous, and that was exactly the kind of thing that spread to the troopers like wildfire. It was maddening that simply because of some ridiculous connection to some mystical power, someone like Kylo Ren was in a position of power over him - when _he_ had been the one trained since birth for command, who had created an army whose discipline and skill were unparalleled in the galaxy, who had risen through the ranks through sheer iron determination and will and dedication to the cause.

_He_ was the one who had the necessary skills to bring order to the galaxy, and yet it was Kylo Ren who called himself Supreme Leader.

It had taken days of persuasion before Ren had agreed to go over the plans for the First Order’s next steps - and now Hux was beginning to regret forcing him. He’d had half-hoped that he’d be able to take advantage of Ren’s poor impulse control to take command himself - at least of the First Order’s military, if not anything else. But no - Ren had given half of his armies to his Knights, and he was insisting on keeping Hux with him on the flagship. It was ostensibly a position of power, but it felt more like a punishment for daring to disagree with him. 

The Resistance, Snoke’s legacy - Ren’s vendetta against the past was threatening to undo everything Hux had been working for his whole life. Wasting countless resources on chasing down ever-dwindling rebels, when the head of the snake had already been cut off. Throwing away decent, reliable commanders just because they had spoken up for Snoke’s strategies. Insisting on violently expanding their reach throughout the galaxy, before they’d fully solidified their hold on the central systems. From what he’d seen, Kylo Ren was likely to throw the entire empire into chaos just to prove that he _could_.

“Supreme Leader.” He raised his chin as Ren turned away from his window, the light glinting off his mask from the repair drones still working on the ship’s hull.

“What news from my Knights? Have they found the Resistance base yet?”

“They have made no contact,” Hux said, stiffly. He didn’t give a damn about the Knights, but every conversation with Ren had to start this way. 

“Then why have you disturbed me?”

“We have had word from the colony in the Lo’therian system. They send acknowledgment of your authority-"

“Of course,” snapped Ren, swinging round.

“-And they report that construction of the new TIE fleet is almost complete. They have had some… difficulties with the local population, but-"

“You bother me with _trifles_ ,” growled Ren. “I care not.” He waved his mechanical hand, dismissively. “Leave me.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” If it had been anyone else, Hux would have pressed the point. The factory in Lo’yin had reported that someone had tried to sabotage it. Nothing major, but worthy of looking into. If it was a sign of more than just local resentment of the First Order’s actions-

But Hux wouldn’t have _had_ to press the point with anyone else. Anyone else would have listened to their general the first time. He had done his duty; it was Kylo Ren’s choice to ignore him.

Foolishness.

 

* * *

 

Poe jumped down from the cockpit and ripped off his helmet, his heart still thudding. Jessika and Rose were standing with their arms crossed and the exact same expectant expression on their faces. He shook his head, grinning. He felt more alive than he had done in _weeks_.

“That,” he said, “was _flying_.”

Behind him, BB-8 buzzed enthusiastic agreement as he want to clap Jessika on the shoulder.“Oh _man_ , those gyro-thrusters.” His eyes were bright. “It’s even better than the ’85s I flew with the Republic. I thought _they_ could move.”

“Yeah, thought you’d like it,” said Jessika, casually.

“A whole squadron of ‘em! And you took out the TIEs as well. The look on their faces when they realise…” he said, excitedly. “They won’t know what hit ‘em.”

The new _Black One_ was, in a word, sublime. Poe hadn’t thought that he’d ever fly something that could touch the T-85s for manoeuvring, but the new design… It was as if she could actually read his mind, she was so responsive. And that wasn’t even sub-atmo flying - he couldn’t wait to see what she was like planetside. He felt like he could take on the entire First Order _himself_ , in a ship like that. 

“We don’t know when the new TIE fighters will be brought into service,” said Rose, cautiously. “It could be months before we’re facing them.”

“As long as we keep blowing ‘em up, they’ll have to bring ‘em out sometime,” he said. “And these new fighters are gonna make that a whole lot easier.”

He was still buzzing half an hour later, when he walked into the room for the daily briefing. They still hadn’t brought the command centre back online after D’Qar, even though it had been months. It hadn’t felt right, somehow. But they had needed somewhere to meet and talk strategy, so Rose and the other ground techs had fixed up one of the spare rooms with a holo display and the control desks, and it had been good enough so far. 

She was already there when he got in, talking seriously with Finn and Captain Connix, showing them something on the holo on her wrist. Admiral Statura was there too, slumped in his chair and staring at out of the nearest window. He hadn’t fully recovered, since the attack. No-one was sure if he ever would. 

The others looked up as he entered. “Commander.”

Poe leaned on the edge of the holo panel in the centre, looking around at them all. “Right. What’ve we got? Major Brance, how was your mission?”

“We managed to get through their defences,” he said, cautiously. “Took out two comms dishes before they realised what was going on. But we didn’t manage to reach the central hub. Still, it’ll take them a few weeks to repair.”

“Losses?”

“Two of ours. One transport with heavy damage, but we patched it up on the relay stop.”

He nodded. “Good. Captain Tico?”

“Our mission went well.” She sketched out the details. “They’ll know someone was there, but we laid some false charges so hopefully they’ll just assume that we tried to blow stuff up and failed.” She shrugged. “Even if they notice, that’s a whole fleet of TIE fighters they can’t use.”

“Nice work,” said Poe. “And we’ve got a whole new fleet of X-wings, so we can start thinking about doing some serious damage from now on. This is _working_. We’ve just gotta keep at it.”

“We’ve had reports that they’ve sent out the Knights of Ren,” warned Connix. “They’re going through all of our old bases.”

“We’re riling ‘em up.” Poe grinned. “Let’s do it some more. What’s our next step?”

Rose looked up. “Finn and I have been going through the datafiles, and we’ve had some ideas.”

“Go ahead.”

“Kalreetha,” she said, pointing. “It’s a communications outpost. We could just destroy it - that’ll prevent them sending or receiving signals from that quadrant. But I’ve been figuring out a way we can use it to send a jamming signal that should mess up their whole network.”

“Problem is, it’s defended,” said Finn. “It isn’t like the fighter factory; the First Order have a garrison there. We won’t be able to sneak in like last time.”

He nodded. “Right. So what do you need?”

“Maybe half an hour inside the base?” Rose shrugged. “I have to send the signal from the control room.”

“So we need to get onto the surface?” Brance frowned. “What kind of defences do they have?”

“Looks like it’s mostly ground troops,” said Finn. “It’s pretty isolated, that’s why they use it as a relay station. There’s a couple of other backwater planets nearby but it’s not really in range of anything else.”

“So we hit it - we set up a temporary base on a nearby planet, we send in a strike team, they take out the garrison. We use the distraction to get in and send the signal,” said Poe. “We hold it for as long as we need, and then we get out of there before they have time to bring in reinforcements.”

They spent the rest of the briefing thrashing out the details and coming up with plans and strategies until they were all confident that it was at least worth a shot. First Kalreetha, then on to the next outpost, the next base, the next command hub, the next Star Destroyer… bit by bit, whittling away the First Order’s control on the galaxy, sparking one tiny fire after another and another…

He had a good feeling about this one. It felt like the sort of thing General Organa would have approved of.

He caught up with Finn after the meeting broke up. He was still wearing his old jacket, the stitching on the tear on the back looking more than a little ragged by now. Apparently, stormtroopers couldn’t sew any more than pilots could.

“Good work on the datafiles, buddy,” he said. “I don’t know how you do it, but keep ‘em coming.”

Finn shrugged, smiling. “If there’s one thing the First Order trains you to do, it’s mindless formwork. At least now it feels like there’s a point to it.”

“Remind me to take you out in one of the new wings sometime. Nothing like a few barrel rolls to take your mind off datafiles.”

Finn laughed. “No, I remember last time. I didn’t like the spinning.”

“Okay, that doesn’t count. We were in a battle. Trust me, buddy - these X-wings will change your life.”

He shook his head, smiling reluctantly at Poe’s enthusiasm. “Fine. When this is all over, you can try to persuade me that I like sitting in a tin can having my insides flip upside down.”

Poe folded his arms, raising one eyebrow. “Your problem, Finn, is that you’ve never had fun before and you’re scared of it.”

Finn poked him in the chest. “ _Your_ problem is that you think ‘thinking you’re about to die’ is _fun_.”

He grinned. “I do not.”

“ _And_ you’re a terrible liar.”

“No I’m-" BB-8 warbled something. “Hey, BB, you’re supposed to back me up on this!”

Finn looked satisfied. “Exactly.” He glanced at his wrist. “Oh, hey, I gotta go, sorry.”

“Somewhere to be?”

“Combat room,” he said. “I promised Rey I’d help her train.”

Poe raised his eyebrows. “Now that’ll be a fight to remember. Mind if I watch?”

“You can join in if you like,” said Finn, slyly. “It’ll be _fun_.”

“Ha! Think I’ll pass on that one. Still got the bruises from last time.”

He and Finn _had_ trained together, and it had been borderline embarrassing. Poe had always considered himself a decent hand at close combat - but after having his ass handed to him at least seven different ways in the space of half an hour, he had to rethink that. Finn had sworn that he hadn’t been holding back, but Poe had a sneaking suspicion that he had just been letting him get a few blows in so that he wasn’t _totally_ humiliated.

He was interested to see how he matched up against Rey. Of course, Finn had a lifetime of stormtrooper training behind him, which had certainly given him an edge against Poe - but then Rey was a Jedi, _and_ had lived her entire life as a scavenger in the rough part of a desert planet. Too close to call, really.

He was right, he saw, once they had reached the training area and they had picked up their weapons and begun trading blows. She was using some kind of lightweight metal staff against Finn’s practice sword, and neither of them were even coming close to touching each other, despite the speed they were moving. What Finn and Rey were doing hardly even looked like sparring; it looked like poetry. Poe was soon joined by a cluster of awed spectators as the rest of the training room gradually gave up on what they were doing and came to watch instead. 

He was glad about that. It certainly did the Resistance’s morale no harm to have a Jedi training in their midst. Even with a staff, Rey was formidable; he could imagine how intimidating it would be to have to face her wielding her lightsaber. 

Finn was certainly holding his own, though - each movement neat and deliberate, frowning slightly with concentration, as if he had planned the entire fight out already and was just trying to remember which order the moves went. Rey had almost the same expression on her face, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as the staff whirled around her, blocking and dodging Finn’s blade with ease. 

Neither of them seemed to be winning - but neither of them seemed to mind, either. It was almost as if they were marking out a fight, mapping moves and trying them out against each other - except at such speed that it was difficult to follow what they were doing, and droplets of sweat were flying from both of them.

And then, suddenly, it ended. Poe didn’t even see how it happened: one minute they were sparring, blades clashing against each other - and the next, Finn was on the floor and Rey had her staff at his neck, just lightly touching the skin.

“Dead,” she said, almost apologetically - and then blushed as the onlookers burst into spontaneous applause. Finn said something with a laugh as she gave a hand up, and she shrugged, looking pleased. 

“That was,” said Poe, as they came over to join him, “incredible. I feel like I got better just by watching you two.”

“Oh, no,” said Finn, still grinning broadly as he accepted a flask of water. “She was _definitely_ holding back. I wouldn’t last five minutes in a straight fight.”

“That’s because you were trained by the First Order,” teased Rey, “and they don’t believe in throwing sand in the other guy’s eyes and then kicking him in the-“

Poe laughed at the look on Finn’s face. “I dunno if that’s the Jedi or Jakku talking, Rey, but remind me never to get on your bad side.”


	6. Chapter 6

Rey could have stared for hours. 

A vast expanse of rolling plains, stretching as far as she could see in any direction, the horizon fringed with hazy blue mountains and the sky a great grey swathe above her. Almost like Jakku - except Jakku had been burnt and dusty, oranges and reds, endless sand tumbling over itself. And Kyrenesh was a rippling sea of olive and gold and dusky purple-brown, blotches of dark green trees filing the valleys. 

Finn whistled as he climbed out of the A-wing. 

“It’s got a lot of space, at least,” he said. 

She nodded. Kyrenesh was technically inhabited - nomadic herders, apparently, using it to raise livestock to be traded off-world. Poe had sent her and Finn to scout it out, and to make contact if they could. To recruit people, or simply to warn them to stay out of the way. They were hoping to use it as a temporary base - a place to launch their raid from, so that they could keep the larger ships close by and ready for a long jump to escape the First Order’s counterattack. 

Simple, when you put it like that.

“I wonder where the people are,” said Finn, squinting at the horizon. “How’re we supposed to find them if they don’t live in cities? And how do we know we can trust them, anyway?”

“If they saw us landing, I guess they’ll find us,” said Rey. “And Rose is monitoring the off-planet communications. They can’t get many visitors in a place like this.” She swept her eyes over the horizon. So much growth, so much life. In Jakku people would have fought to the death for just one tenth of what she could see. “I can’t believe it’s so _empty_.”

Finn seemed restless, pacing up the slope behind their ship, stopping every few seconds to stare at the mountains in the distance. “Poe said that they just stay with the herds. But that means they could be anywhere.”

“We’ll just wander around until we find them, I suppose,” she said, locking the ship down and following him. “Or they find us.”

He picked a piece of grass and fiddled with it absently. “Why’d you think he sent us? You know - us specifically?”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m… I’m supposed to be a Jedi, I guess. I’m supposed to be showing people that the Resistance hasn’t given up hope. And you’re… you. People like you.”

Finn dropped his grass, looking absurdly pleased with the compliment. “Thanks.”

They continued on towards the edge of an outcrop, smooth purplish rocks jutting abruptly out of the grass. A sweet, earthy smell was rising as the plants rustled underfoot. Some kind of small insect-like animal was droning nearby, mixing with the chirrups of tiny, bright birds darting to and fro between the grasses. It was a peaceful place. A good place to rest. 

Rey folded herself down on top of the rock, looking out over the plains. The sky was layers of grey on grey, fringed with silver where the suns were breaking through. Twin suns, like on Ahch-To. From here, the hills and mountains almost looked like waves of the sea, colours overlapping and fading into each other into the distance. She wondered where the people were. She could feel… in the back of her mind, tugging at her thoughts. Ripples in the Force, like someone had dropped a pebble in it a long time ago and the echos were still-

“Listen, Rey, I wanted to talk to you. Or, well, just to say…” Finn looked uncomfortable. “If you need someone to talk _to,_ then-“

“Wait.” She held up a hand. The patterns were shifting, restlessly, pulling at her. “There’s… I can feel something.”

He glanced around, nervously. “Somethin’ bad?”

“No.” She concentrated. “I don’t think so. This way.”

“Are you using the Force right now?” Finn asked, as she set off in the direction of- of whatever it was that was calling her. “Is it- sort of- telling you where to go?”

“Something like that,” she said. She wasn’t sure she could explain it. She didn’t fully understand it herself. “There’s… patterns. I can sense them.”

“That’s so cool. Did Luke Skywalker show you how?”

“Erm… I suppose. The books say stuff about patterns in the Force, but it doesn’t make much sense…” She sighed unhappily. She hadn’t realised how much she’d needed to say it, but it had been hanging over her for weeks now. “They’re… hard to understand. I mean, not just the language, I had to get a translator for that, but… I don’t know. They don’t really sound like the legends, you know? All the stories you hear about the Jedi. The stuff in the books doesn’t sound like that at all. I guess they’ve changed, but…” 

“What _do_ they sound like?”

“It’s just… a lot of stuff about balance, and control, and not interfering with things. It sounds like they didn’t really _do_ much. They keep talking about reflection through study. And sometimes they say stuff about aligning with the universe and balancing the Force within yourself and refractions of the elements, and I don’t really know what that means. There’s nothing about the Light side and the Dark side. I don’t think they even split it like that back then. Or maybe… maybe I just don’t know what I’m doing.” She bit her lip. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I feel like I’m always getting something wrong.” 

“You’re not,” Finn said. 

Rey took a breath. “But I think I am. I… after… after Snoke. I saw her- I saw Leia. She was… sort of blue, she just appeared in my room one night, she spoke to me. I thought maybe she’d help me. But I haven’t seen her since. I haven’t even _felt_ her. And maybe it’s my fault, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I don’t know why she won’t come back.” It ended on a more plaintive note than she would’ve liked.

They had reached the edge of the forest now, stretching up the slopes of one of the mountains, and the route was getting steeper. Finn pushed aside a branch, holding it for her to walk past. 

Rey almost smiled. No matter how complicated the galaxy got, no matter how impossible the knots seemed to unravel… there was Finn, worrying about holding back branches.

“I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong,” said Finn, after a while. “Maybe she _can’t_ come back. Like… like maybe she was an echo, or something. In the Force. Can it work like that?”

“I don’t know.” Rey couldn’t really think of anything to say. She _didn’t_ know, and she was supposed to know, and she didn’t even know how she would find out. It seemed impossible.

They continued on through the forest, sending small creatures darting away as they worked their way through the tangle of undergrowth. The trees were strange - tall, and slender, with silvery-grey bark and long, dark leaves twisting and curling out from the canopy. They reminded her confusingly of the ones on Ahch-To, even though they looked completely different. 

They were close now. The pattern was becoming stronger in her mind, clearer-

“Is this it?” Finn had stopped up ahead. 

At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a tumble of stones, overgrown with some kind oftufts of yellowish grass, rising up against the side of the mountain. It had partly fallen down, she saw - the columns flanking the entrance cracked and sagging drunkenly against each other, small piles of stones lying scattered around from where they’d broken free of the walls. It was hardly impressive.

“Some kind of… ruins, or something? There’s people living here, right? Maybe it belonged to them?”

“No,” she said, with the strange certainty that came with recognising an old pattern and knowing what it meant. “It’s an old Jedi temple.”

Finn stared at it with mounting excitement. “You serious? For real? The _Jedi_ built this?”

“Yes. A long time ago,” she said, touching one of the stones of the entrance with a fingertip. “It feels empty. Not just… no people. Empty.” She shook her head. “I can’t describe it.”

“What do you think happened to them?”

She shrugged. “They left. They died. What does it matter?” It had been thousands of years ago, she knew. Nothing that could change anything now. An old relic of an old religion. 

Maybe Luke had been right. Maybe the Jedi had been dying for years. Maybe it _was_ time for them to end.

“You’re sure there’s no-one here?” Finn was walking around it, craning his neck to see the twist of rock rising up from the centre. 

“Yeah, it’s been abandoned for ages. Years and years.”

“I dunno. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place. Like it’s watching us.” He glanced at her. “Can the Force do that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s how it works.” She put her hand on one of the columns. “It doesn’t feel bad to me. Just… old.”

Old, and tinged with something… almost wistful. As if the building remembered what it had once been. Perhaps Finn had been right. Perhaps the Force did have echoes.

She suddenly felt, strongly, that she needed to go inside. That somehow, impossibly, something was waiting there. For _her_. That she had to-

Finn suddenly jerked backwards, putting a hand out to stop her. “Uh- Rey?”

There was someone close by - someone coming into sight between the trees. An alien, riding on some kind of huge birdlike animal, wearing what looked like woven armour - humanoid but with a narrow, reptilian head.

“ _Shi k’en je_?” She swung out of the saddle and approached them, the ruff around her head flaring orange, gesturing with some kind of short vibrospear. “ _Shi’en zhu k’iin begar jun_?”

Rey went to grasp her lightsaber hilt, but Finn laid his hand on her arm. “Sorry, we can’t understand you,” he said, slowly and carefully. “Do you speak-“

“Basic?” The alien cocked her head on one side. “Of course. Who are you, and what are you doing here? Are you here to buy _qui’lek_?”

“Uh, no… is that a qui’lek?” asked Finn, pointing at the creature. It had begun browsing at the ground, rust-brown feathers bobbing as it moved. The alien’s crest had lowered, and flushed a more subdued pale green.

“Of course. Finest bloodline in the galaxy,” she said. 

“It looks… great?” said Finn, uncertainly. “But, uh, no. We’re with the Resistance. I’m Finn. This is Rey. From the Resistance.”

The alien bobbed her head. “My name is Ke’hel. We had thought that the Resistance was destroyed.”

“The First Order tried,” said Rey. She glanced back at the temple entrance. It was still… but how could it be waiting for her? It had been abandoned centuries ago. 

“But we’re still fighting,” Finn added. “We’re not giving up yet.”

“Good. The First Order… we do not like them,” said Ke’hel. Her crest swirled mesmerisingly, blue and purple.

“Uh, okay,” Finn said. “Good. I guess. Is this… do you live here?”

She chucked. “These are ruins. No-one lives here.”

“It was a Jedi temple, wasn’t it?” asked Rey. “Before it was abandoned. There were Jedi here.”

The alien cocked her head again, looking at her with golden eyes, hard to read. “Yes, there were Jedi here once. Long ago. Even some of our own were Jedi. Some of us are born with the gift.” She looked away. “The First Order sent a Knight. We did not think to hide them.”

Her crest had gone a bruised purple-red, verging on black. Rey saw Finn swallow. 

“I’m - uh, I’m sorry.”

“We are lucky, compared to some,” said Ke’hel. “It was the first time they took our children from us. Others suffer more.”

Rey glanced at Finn; his face had gone very still. He didn’t remember his family. Didn’t know whether they were still alive, whether they ever thought about him. Didn’t know whether they had given him up to the First Order willingly or not. 

“We’re gonna stop them,” he said, quietly, almost to himself. “They aren’t gonna win.”

“They have already won,” the alien said, yellow streaking across her crest bitterly. “The Jedi are gone, and all those who are like them. The Republic is gone. Our _relyek_ children are gone.” She closed her eyes, briefly. “The galaxy cannot fight any more; we are not the Resistance. We have not yet lost so much that we can join with those who have nothing left to lose. They have won.” 

Finn stared, the sympathy and indignation battling on his face. He seemed at a loss of what to say. 

Rey unsheathed her lightsaber and activated it. Ke’hel’s ruff flared red, rising around her face as she backed away, her bird-mount chirruping in alarm.

“Luke Skywalker and the Republic may be gone,” she said. “But there are still people willing to fight.”

She didn’t know what her place was in all of this; didn’t know if she was supposed to be a Jedi, or what she was supposed to do to be one, or how she was supposed to do it. Didn’t know what powers she was supposed to have or how she was supposed to use them. But that one thing, she did know.

“The First Order haven’t won yet.”

 

*** 

 

Kylo Ren tapped the fingers of his mechanical hand on the arm of his throne. He could have had them covered, he supposed - artificial skin wasn’t exactly hard to come by - but he liked it better this way. The pistons and wires laid bare, gleaming black metal against the red. Raw crushing power at his fingertips. 

He was stronger with the Force, now. He had felt it rushing through him from the moment he had driven his lightsaber through Snoke’s withered, disgusting body. His former master had been holding him back, he realised. He had been afraid of Ren’s true ability. Now his connection to the Force was strengthening every day. 

He remembered the last of them - the last of the apprentices he’d brought with him from the Jedi temple. Most of them hadn’t known what was going on. Snoke had pitted them against each other, against Ren… Most had been weak, and confused, and they had died quickly. He had felt the same thing when he’d killed them: that same quick burst of strength flowing into him, although nowhere near as much as with Snoke. Some of them had been stronger - stronger in the Force, stronger in the Dark Side. One or two he had even thought might join him. 

Snoke had taught him the foolishness of that. The Dark Side granted supreme power, not to be shared. The last of the apprentices had betrayed him - pretending to have turned, pretending to serve. He had tried to steal the Imperial datalogs they needed to construct Starkiller Base - had almost managed it, before Ren and his Knights had caught up with him. Even then - even when hundreds lay dead, the lightning flickering across the sky as Ren advanced on the pitiful, broken human he had become - the apprentice had tried to destroy the datalogs rather than let the First Order have them. 

Loyal to Luke Skywalker to the end.

Ren had put his lightsaber through his chest just before he’d managed it. He still remembered the bitter rush of despair which had spiked from the boy’s Force presence, his guard finally down. The last apprentice of Luke Skywalker had died knowing that he had failed. That Kylo Ren could not be betrayed. 

He clenched his fist. He _would_ not be betrayed. There were none, now - none even close to being able to challenge him. No matter what orders Snoke might have given them… the First Order answered to him, and him alone. 

The hologram in front of him flickered at his general shifted nervously. Hux had insisted that he needed to address all of his senior officers personally - and the man might have been a snivelling coward, but Ren could see the value in it. Let them see who they were taking orders from, now. Let them see his power and fear him as they should. 

This was the fifth that day. She was tense, he could see that already: her eyes wide and her back stiff as she spoke. He didn’t bother to hide his frustration. They were all the same - bleating like frightened animals. The anger within him was twisting, gnawing at him. These had been Snoke’s generals. They had been chosen by him; answered to him; obeyed _him_.

“Tell me,” he said, “the last transmission you received from High Command.”

“Supreme Leader Snoke sent orders,” she said. “That you spoke with his voice and were to be obeyed in all things.”

“When? When did he send those orders?” he growled.

She faltered, inner lids sliding across her eyes anxiously. “I- shortly after - I mean - after the destruction of the Hosnian system, Supreme Leader.”

He hissed. _Again_. New orders from Snoke, issued right after he had summoned Ren back to the _Supremacy_. Always the same. To obey him. It was like Snoke was making them swear allegiance. Allegiance to _Ren_. 

_Why?_

“Supreme Leader, is there- Do you have orders for us? We have-“

He cut off the transmission, metal fingers tapping a rapid beat on the throne. 

It couldn’t be a coincidence. Too many officers, too many systems. All contacted at the same time. All ordered to obey him. By Snoke. 

As if he knew. 

As if he _knew_ that Ren would be taking command.

_Complete your training._

Suddenly it all made sense.

_It is time to complete your training_. That’s what Snoke had said, when he had summoned him back. Those were his words. Ren should have realised what that meant. To complete his training, to go from apprentice to master… he should have thought. There were never two masters. The title was _passed_ , from one to the other. It was never shared.

Snoke knew. 

Snoke had _planned_. 

He had goaded him into doing it. Had taunted him, had stoked the rage in him, inflamed the hatred. Had forged the bond with Rey, fuelling his doubt, his uncertainty…

He’d thought that he was free of him. He’d thought that by killing him, he was breaking Snoke’s control over him. That he had unshackled himself from the past.

The lightsaber smashed through the throne, red sparks cascading onto the floor. He wrenched it out and swung again, white-hot globs of metal flying through the air. He was going to destroy it. 

He was going to destroy _everything_. 


	7. Chapter 7

Kalreetha was a jungle moon: trees dripping with greenery, the air thick and humid and filled with the calls of a hundred strange and colourful animals. Poe felt a drop of sweat crawl down the back of his neck as they moved quietly through the undergrowth. Beside him, Finn was twitchy - his hands tight on his blaster, head snapping around at each new noise - but Rey’s eyes were wide with wonder. 

It felt wrong to be on the ground. They had decided to split the X-wings - half harrying a nearby supply convoy as a distraction, and half on standby in the base on Kyrenesh. They wouldn’t be much use here, with the dense ground cover. And of course they didn’t actually want to blow up the base - so unless the First Order deployed their own fighters, there wasn’t much that having air support would achieve.

Still, Poe didn’t like it. It felt desperately vulnerable to be on the ground, particularly since they could barely see ten metres in front of them. They were almost on top of the base, but he could hardly see it through the undergrowth. And it reminded him jarringly of his childhood home - not something that sat comfortably with their current mission. 

“Commander, Strike One is in position,” reported Brance, over the comms. “Waiting for your mark.”

“Strike Two in position,” confirmed one of the other ground commanders.

“This is Strike Three, we’re ready to go on your signal.”

They had split the squads. The idea was a series of quick, sharp hits which melted away into the forest to attack somewhere else. Try to needle the First Order into sending their stormtroopers out into the forest so that Rose and her team could get a clear path into the control room. Use the dense forest cover to their advantage to throw the defenders into confusion and make it seem like their forces were larger than they really were. 

Finn and Major Brance seemed confident that it would work, at least. 

“Captain Tico, how’s Slice One doing?”

“We’re ready,” she reported, sounding nervous. Slice One had been handpicked: steady, reliable men and women, not risk-takers. They would get it done.

“All teams, keep sharp. Don’t let ‘em pull you in too far - remember what we’re here for. Let’s make General Organa proud today.” The base was in sight now; grey walls, looming up above the forest canopy, the satellite dishes tilted up towards the sky. “Major Brance, attack is yours.”

“Copy that, Commander. Strike One, on me. Strike Two, wait for my signal.”

There was a long moment of silence. Then blaster fire rang out, faintly, from the other side of the base - and within a few seconds, alarms had started blaring. 

“Strike Two!”

More blaster fire, closer. Poe could hear the faint sounds of shouted orders from within the base, and flashes of activity as troopers began to run to defensive positions. 

“Strike Three, Black Squad, go! Strike One, disengage and move to zone two!”

Finn was already running forwards, Rey following close behind. He moved differently on a battlefield; his face serious and intent, his expression one of single-minded purpose, his dark eyes almost fierce. Poe wondered how he felt, going up against his former comrades. He had never asked. 

The troopers were already pouring out of the base entrance, falling into formation, setting up heavy guns and sweeping the edge of the forest with ion cannon fire. Black Squad answered with a steady rain of blaster bolts, until Finn threw a grenade right into the centre of the stormtrooper formation, scattering troopers and clods of black earth alike. 

They ran forwards, picking off the few remaining troopers, ducking behind the wall of the base. This was a good position; from here they could take out the stormtroopers as they came out, before they realised what was going on. 

Finn tapped him on the shoulder. “We should-“

“Commander Dameron?” Major Brance sounded almost panicked on the comms. “We’ve got… we’re up against a Knight. One of Ren’s Knights. He’s- he-”

The comms system crackled with a burst of static as he was cut off. 

Rey’s eyes were wide. “I’ll go.”

“Rey, wait-“ 

She had darted away before any of them could stop her, right as another group of stormtroopers came jogging out of the base. Poe shot one in the back as he raised his blaster to aim at her, and then another one before he could turn around. 

“Why’d she do that?” wailed Finn, taking aim and shooting another three troopers in quick succession. “Why the hell did she do that?” 

They all ducked as the other troopers finally started firing back and a blaster shot crashed into the wall just above their heads.

Poe shook his head. “I dunno, buddy. What the hell is a Knight of Ren doing here?”

“Nothin’ good.” Finn grimaced as another blaster shot hit close by. “I hope she knows what she’s doing.”

 

*     *     *

 

It was carnage. The bodies of Resistance fighters lay everywhere, scattered like leaves across the forest floor. Some of them were still moving. She spotted Major Brance struggling to pull himself up against a tree - his teeth gritted in pain and one arm clutched against his chest, blood staining his tunic. 

His eyes met hers and his nodded his chin towards the base entrance, grimacing. 

The Knight was waiting for her. 

For half a second, she thought it was Ren himself. Dark helmet, dark armour, dark cloak. But he was holding some kind of vibromace, not a lightsaber. And she couldn’t feel Ren’s presence - at least, not close by. There was a pressure in the back of her mind, as if he was trying to break through somewhere, but-

The Knight lifted his mace, striding forwards, swinging it casually through the air as he came. Rey fell back a step and activated her lightsaber, the blades humming reassuringly. She had trained for this. She could do it. She _could_.

The mace came crashing down towards her. Rey sidestepped, whirling the lightsaber up to stop the Knight closing again, and then twisted around to his side. He blocked her next stroke with the haft of the mace, the impact jarring her wrists, and she fell back a step.

There were stormtroopers still in the base - a trio came running out behind the Knight, and she barely managed to deflect the blaster bolts, ducking under another swipe. The Force was swirling around them both, eddying around the plasma shots. One of the stormtroopers went down.

The Knight was relentless. Rey didn’t have time to think of anything but the fight - blocking, dodging, searching for an opening. The blaster bolts were still flying, whenever she broke free of the Knight for long enough to get clear, and it was taking all of her concentration to avoid them. And at the back of her mind, the smouldering heaviness was still there - Ren was still there, trying to break through.

She pushed harder, the double blades of her saber a blur as she went on the attack, trying to open up the Knight’s guard and get past the mace to land a blow. Just one good blow - that was all she needed.

The Knight shoved her backwards, and another hail of blaster bolts screamed towards her-

There was no time to avoid them. Rey flung out a hand and hauled on the Force desperately, yanking them away. They smashed into the forest behind her, sparks and smoke flying - and the Knight struck again, catching her a glancing blow on her leg. Her knee buckled. 

The pressure was simmering beneath the surface again, pushing against her mind. Anger. Little spurts of it kept bursting through into her thoughts. 

He swung again, savagely, and she barely managed to stumble back to avoid it. Her leg was aching. She tried to breathe deeply, to centre herself. Not just to feel the Force swirling around them both - to _use_ it. Harness it, like Luke had said. Breathe.

She swept out with everything she had, dragging her lightsaber through the Force like a hand through sand, pulling it in her wake. She felt it smash into the Knight, sending him reeling backwards - and his guard was down. Rey lunged forwards, bringing the upper blade of her lightsaber slashing downwards.

The Knight dropped, the vibromace thudding into the floor beside him. 

Now there were only the stormtroopers - both bringing their blasters up to shoot - but she was ready, the lightsaber whirling in front of her, sending the bolts ricocheting into the wall beside them. The next shot she focused harder and the troopers both went down, their amour scorched. 

Rey stood, breathing hard, staring at them. The anger was pushing against her mind again, burning at the edge of her thoughts. She tried to shove it away from her. 

Calm. Breathe. Focus. 

It was barely working; she could still feel the heat of emotion straining against her, as if there was a fire raging and she was close enough for the sparks to be singeing her fingertips. 

She could block it out. Ignore it. She had to focus. She could do this. She _could_. 

Rey headed into the base. 

 

*     *     *

 

Rose’s breathing was loud in her own ears. She was kneeling on the ground, and a stick was digging into the skin of her knee. The ground was damp.

Close by, the sound of blaster fire mingled with screams. She remembered Sar Yonrac. She remembered the men and women she had seen dead and dying on the battlefield. She remembered-

“Hey.” There was a hand on her shoulder, warm. “It’s gonna be okay. You ready?”

She took a breath, shakily. “Yeah.” 

“It won’t be long now,” said one of the others, from the front. 

Daven gave her shoulder a brief squeeze. “We’re not gonna lose today,” he said, quietly.

She nodded. She knew what she had to do.

“Rose, the northern entrance is clear,” came Rey’s voice over the comms. The rest of the group looked to her, expectantly. Men and women - hardened veterans, fighters of a hundred skirmishes - looking to her for orders. R2 whistled at her.

Rose nodded. “Let’s go.”

They skirted around the edge of the forest, heading northwards. She deliberately didn’t look at what was going on in the base. It was enough to focus on getting through the undergrowth, avoiding the tree branches, staying just far enough to be out of sight until they reached the northern sector…

She was so focused on making it to the entrance of the base that she almost didn’t notice what was outside. Almost, but not quite. Rose skidded to a stop.

“Oh, _no_.”

Daven touched her arm, briefly. “Go on,” he said. “I’m needed.”

Rose nodded, fighting the impulse to run over and help as he hurried to the nearest body, already slinging his medical kit over his shoulder and calling in for a medevac as he went. The body of the Knight was just outside the base entrance, crumpled on the ground, a neat scorch-mark slicing into his chest. She felt sick. Why did fighting the First Order have to involve so much death? When was it ever going to end?

“Major, can you hear me? Major?” Daven’s voice faded as the rest of the squad headed in, hurrying through the blasted base doors. Rose hoped that he’d be able to save some of them. At least some. There had to be more to this than just death and destruction. There had to be.

It must have been the Knight - he must have done it. 

She looked at the others beside her as they made their way through corridors which were ominously silent - blasters raised, checking every doorway as they passed it. They had seen the same as she had. How were they so calm? How could they ignore it?

“All teams,” came Poe’s voice. “We’ve taken the northern sector. Pull back to the base and concentrate on defending the perimeter.”

Rose caught the look of triumph between the two fighters nearest her. “You hear that?” said one. “Let’s get this done.”

They were almost there, R2 reported. The droid had the schematics of the base uploaded, and was guiding them through the maze of corridors and turnings, looking ridiculously out of place among all of the shining black walls and metal. There were only a few people left in the base now - most of them had gone to their defensive positions, and the only ones left must have been technicians and workers. 

Her team made short work of them. Rose hoped that they had switched their blasters to stun.

The control room was an unutterable relief, even though most of the switches and panels were totally unfamiliar to her. Her team fanned out around the room while she and R2 went straight to the main console, the droid whirring as he plugged in to one of the ports.

“Okay, okay.” Rose took a breath and flexed her fingers. Coming up with the jamming signal was one thing; actually sending it was another. But at least here was something she knew that she could do. She was in control here. “Okay. Here goes.”

 

*     *     *

 

They caught up with Rey, finally, in one of the corridors of the base. She was staring out of the shattered remains of one of the windows and frowning. Her lightsaber hilt was back on the hook at her waist, and she barely looked up as Finn hurried to her. Behind him, BB-8 was shrilling in alarm as red and green blaster fire from outside showered sparks over the walkway.

“Rey - are you alright? You’re okay? The Knight, did you-?”

“Dead,” she said, almost absently. She was ignoring the bolts which were still ricocheting outside, occasionally hitting the corridor itself.

“Rey, you need to get down,” said Finn, as Poe balanced his blaster on the window frame and took aim. He tugged at her arm. “You need to get away from the window.”

She stared at him for a second - her brow still furrowed - and then shook her head as if she was trying to clear it. “He’s angry,” she said, blinking at him. “Really angry. I can feel it. It keeps trying to break through.”

Finn exchanged an anxious glance with Poe. “Rey, look at me. Look at me. You need to get away from here,” he told her, pulling her over to the other side of the window. “You can fight it, Rey, I know you can.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking at him properly - and then shook her head. “No. I don’t know. He’s never been this angry before.” She sounded frightened.

“It’s gonna be okay. Rey, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Finn, what if it’s my fault? What if I was wrong about him? What if-“

He gripped her arms. “You’re a _Jedi_ , Rey. You’re not wrong.” Finn shook his head. “I’ve seen what the First Order do.”

“But I went to find him, I thought he’d turn, I was wrong, it was a mistake…” She sounded close to panic. “I felt sorry for him. I thought I understood him. But all it did was make it easier for him to- to…”

Finn hugged her, tightly, one-armed. She took a shuddering breath. “Thanks,” she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. “It’s just… it’s getting harder to push him away, and I think it’s all my fault, and I don’t know what to do.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised. “You’re not alone. Not any more.”

Poe had ducked back behind the wall on the other side of the window; his face was grim as he gripped his blaster. Finn hoped that Rose would finish sending her signal soon. The Resistance were still holding their section of the base, but the stormtroopers had the advantage now - they were the attacking force, and the Resistance were spread thin around the base perimeter. And the First Order had probably called for reinforcements from their nearest barracks by now…

The comms unit crackled. “They’re retreating!” Major Kalonia sounded excited. “Commander, they’re falling back. I think we’ve done it.”

Finn heard cheering from the other side of the base as Poe ducked out to look out of the window. “Yeah, they’re running away,” he said, wonderingly. “It worked! We did it!”

“I can’t believe it,” said Rey. “They must be going for reinforcements. Surely they wouldn’t abandon the base that easily.”

Finn glanced out of the window, still clutching his blaster. The stormtroopers were retreating. But it wasn’t a normal retreat - it wasn’t even a disorganised rout. It looked like-

“Poe - Poe!” Finn scrambled over to him, grabbing his arm breathlessly. “We need to evacuate. _Now_.”

“What the-? Buddy, what are you talking about? Didn’t you see? They’re retre-“

“Trust me. I know the First Order, and that’s not a retreat. _They’re getting out of the way_.”

Poe stared at him for a second, the horror dawning on his face. “Abort the mission. Everyone out. _Now._ ”

The comms crackled. “We only need a few more minutes, Poe,” said Rose. “We’re almost there.”

Finn shook his head. “They’re gonna send in the heavy bombers for this. I’ve seen what those things do.”

“ _Now_ , Rose. All teams: they’re gonna bomb the base. Get out, _now_. Head into the forest. We’ll regroup once we’re clear.” He was already running, pulling Finn with him, pausing only to let Rey dart through the door ahead of them. “This is Black Leader, repeat: all teams, get clear of the base.”

BB-8 was whizzing ahead of them, weaving around the debris and bodies slumped in the corridors, and the comms unit on Finn’s wrist was a confused, crackling mess of half-shouted orders as everyone tried to organise their squads at once and Poe tried to call in the X-wings from Kyrenesh.

He heard the low drone of the bombers just audible under the sounds of blaster fire and explosions. Outside was chaos. People running everywhere, screams, red and green streaks plasma - Resistance fighters going down as the stormtroopers picked them off one-by-one while they bolted for cover. The roar was getting louder. 

They sprinted for the trees. The First Order bombers lumbered into view above them: dull black, bloated and malevolent, engines whining as they settled into position above the base.

Finn could hardly breathe. Beside him, Rey was gripping his arm tightly enough to bruise. Poe was staring back at the base, at the Resistance fighters still spilling out from the entrances. His expression was anguished.

“No,” he said, almost inaudible.

The bombs began to drop.


	8. Chapter 8

The air was heavy with smoke and ash and a sick, acrid burning smell which gnawed at her throat. Bits of ash and debris were still fluttering around her like confetti. She was shaking. Her leg ached, where the Knight had hit it. Her head hurt, the pressure inside her mind thudding a steady beat of pain.

There were still Resistance fighters running through the trees, stumbling and dodging, sparks spitting out from where the blaster shots hit. The ground was trembling beneath her. 

The base was gone. 

All that was left was a smoking wreck, gutted and ruined, the walls torn open and torn down, fires still burning. The First Order had razed it to the ground. 

“Come on.” Finn was beside her, tugging at her arm. “Rey, come on. “We’ve gotta get to the ships. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

She tore her gaze away and nodded. “Let’s go.”

The forest was thick with stormtroopers - now trying to herd the fleeing Resistance fighters back towards the shattered base, closing the net around them. Slowly advancing, tighter and tighter.

Poe led them in an arc, trying to find somewhere to break through the troopers’ line, keeping to the areas of dense cover where their little group would be less likely to be spotted. They were a mismatched bunch of whoever had happened to get out of the entrance closest to them - fighters, scouts, medics, gunners. They all looked dazed.

Rey’s head was still pounding. She gritted her teeth against it and tried to block Ren out, squeezing her fingers against her forehead, pushing back against him. Why did it have to be _now_? Was he trying to break through on purpose? Did he know, somehow, what they were doing here? That she’d killed one of his Knights?

“Okay, we’re gonna have to make a break for it,” murmured Poe, crouching at the front of the group. “Three squads - one on each side, one in the middle. Side squads try to draw them away, pull them apart. Middle squad, once you see the gap - you get in it and you keep it open. Everyone else, head through and don’t stop until you get back to the ships.” 

They nodded, grimly. Some of them were probably going to die here, Rey realised. That was wrong. They shouldn’t have to die. It was _wrong_.

Now the anger spiking through her mind was her own. It was wrong. Too much death. Too many people suffering, people who didn’t deserve it, people who were just trying to live their lives in peace… And she could change it, she could right that wrong, the power was there at her fingertips if only she could grasp it-

“Rey! Stop!”

She ignored Finn’s shouts. She was running, running towards the lines, driven by that feeling of _wrong_ , that anger, that crystal belief that she could make it right. She knew how. The power was flowing through her-

_This is how he feels_.

She stumbled, the thrill of horror snatching her breath away. 

No, she had to fight it. To draw back from the flood tugging at her. Everything was clear, painfully clear - the light and the shadow dappling the forest floor; her own heartbeat thudding; the heavy, humid air; the distant rumble of explosions; the others shouting at her from the edge of the clearing; the drops of water splashing onto her skin from the leaves above; the hilt of her lightsaber digging into her palm; her own short, sharp breaths-

She had to _fight_ it.

The pressure was too much, overwhelming. She threw all of her mind against it, trying to keep it from bursting thr-

_It was him. He planned it._

Kylo Ren was furious. She could barely see him through the sheer, unstoppable anger thudding through her mind. 

“Get out of my head!”

He ignored her, as if he couldn’t even hear her. Perhaps he couldn’t. 

_He intended for me to kill him and take his place._

Rey tried to shove him away, to push him out of her mind. “Stop it!” The panic was tearing through her, tangled up with his anger. “Ben, stop it!”

She felt his shock, the jolt as his eyes met hers. _You_.

She struggled against the flood of emotions, still trying to pull herself free. To block him out again. 

_Snoke wanted me to kill him_ , he said, his voice still trembling with rage. _You saw it. You saw him. Taunting me. He_ wanted _me to do it._

“I-“

_I will destroy it all. Everything Snoke created. I will_ destroy _it._ Ren’s voice was low but his anger was like a searing light behind her eyes, almost blinding her. _He planned it_. 

“He was manipulating you,” she said. Ren growled. “You don’t have to- you don’t have to let him rule your destiny. You can _choose_ , Ben.” 

She felt him recoil at the sound of his name. 

“He doesn’t control you any more,” she tried. His anger was a roiling, surging mess of emotions. But beyond it… she could feel his doubt. His uncertainty. His longing to be something beyond what everyone had thought of him…

“Ben-”

_You’re part of it._

“I - what?”

_You’re part of it._ His anger was building, the pressure inside her mind, pushing against her skull. _He linked our minds. He wanted to bring us together. You’re_ part _of it._

She could barely see anymore. His rage was overwhelming, scorching, boiling over, screaming through her mind. She tried to push it away, push herself free of it, but it was too much, it hurt too much, the pain was exploding through her head-

 

*     *     *

 

“Rey!”

She was lying on the ground, her lightsaber hilt forgotten beside her. He had seen her- had seen her clutch at her head, seen her screaming, seen her knees give out from under her…

Finn ignored the shouts of the others and the blaster fire streaking red and green from behind the trees. Someone tried to grab his arm as he went past, pulling him back. Finn stumbled and twisted to face Poe. He was shouting something at him, urgently, but whatever it was was lost in the noise of the First Order walker smashing through the jungle on the other side of the clearing - and Finn yanked himself free and kept going, skidding down just as another hail of fire burst out from the trees. 

Everything around him was noise and light and shouting. Rey’s eyes were closed, one arm thrown up across her head, her fingers limp. He gripped her shoulder, calling her name.

The stormtroopers were coming out from under the trees, now, white against the green, flashes of blaster fire, boots thudding against the ground. The ground was shuddering under the legs of the AT-ST. The others were shouting at him from the edge of the clearing. Finn grabbed his blaster instead. He wasn’t leaving her. 

He was dimly aware of the others bursting out from behind the trees and launching themselves into the fight, of blaster bolts hitting the ground around him and showering him with leaf litter, of the gun heating up beneath his hands as he let his training take over. Of bodies falling around him: some wearing white armour, some in the dark greens and browns of the Resistance. 

Rey was breathing, but she wouldn’t wake up. She didn’t look injured; he hadn’t seen her hit. He didn’t understand.

The AT-ST was closer now, the ground juddering, its gun turrets swinging left and right, the trees exploding as stray shots hit them. It was almost on him. The barrel moved downwards, and he could see the red glow behind it-

He rolled, dragging Rey with him - and behind him the ground exploded, spattering his skin with damp earth. The gun turret was swinging around again. 

He was going to die. They were going to die. 

“ _Run,_ Finn!” yelled Poe, somewhere close by. “Take her and _run!_ ”

Finn scrambled to his feet, pulling Rey over his shoulder. Poe was sprinting, full tilt, at the walker. He dodged another shot from the guns and then shoved his gun into the mechanism of one of its leg joints. 

The walker tracked them, its gun turret drawing back to fire again - and then took a step on the leg Poe had jammed. There was a crack. The blaster exploded. 

The walker went down.

Finn stumbled as a wave of heat and debris washed over him - and then Poe was beside him, pulling his blaster from his hands. 

“Keep going!” he shouted, his voice hoarse, waving them towards the trees with his free arm as he turned back to the battlefield. The air was thick with the smell of burning, people running and shouting as the glowing embers swirled around them. Blaster fire lit up the smoke twisting up into the sky from the fallen AT-ST. Finn kept going, trying not to jolt Rey too hard. 

There was a roaring above them and his heart sank. The First Order had sent reinforcements. And there was nowhere left to run. 

The _Millennium Falcon_ swept into view, its engines glowing, sending the branches around them waving wildly. Finn’s knees almost gave way with relief as it eased downwards into the clearing, the ramp already lowered, several medics hanging on to the struts and leaping down before it even hit the ground.

The Resistance fighters bolted towards it, clustering in a ring around the ramp, blasters facing outwards to keep off the last few stormtroopers still standing.

“Come on!” yelled one of the medics. “We don’t have much time!”

Finn ran towards them, dodging past the smoking remains of the AT-ST. The medics were already darting over the battlefield, dragging the casualties towards the _Falcon_ ’s ramp, even as shots were still streaking past overhead. He reached the ramp as Chewbacca lumbered down, bowcaster cocked and ready to fire, roaring savagely. 

Rey was still limp in his arms, but at least she was breathing. He felt a surge of helpless, pointless anger. Why? Why did everything always have to go wrong? Why had the First Order had to bomb the base? Why had she collapsed? Why had it been _right then_? If he’d got to her a second later-

“Finn-” Poe reached the ramp, panting, his face smudged with sweat and smoke.

He rounded on him. “Why? Why’d you- you idiot, why’d you try to stop me? Rey could have _died_.”

Poe blinked at him. “ _You_ could have died!”

“You gotta protect your friends! That’s the whole point, Poe, that’s what you told me! I was trying to save what _matters_!”

“Yeah? Well so was I!” shouted Poe, and then bit his lip. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated, and then swung back around. “We need you. The Resistance needs you. This is about more than just-” 

“It’s _not_.” Finn tightened his grip on Rey. “It’s not, for me. It’s about my friends. It’s about making sure they’re _safe_.”

“And what’s _safe_ about running headfirst into the middle of a firefight without even _thinking_ _-“_

Chewbacca leaned down and roared at them both, showing his teeth. 

There was a moment of profound silence.

“Oh, _my_ ,” said C-3PO, from the ramp of the _Falcon_. “Honestly, Chewbacca, that kind of language is quite unnecessary.”

“He’s right, though.” Major Kalonia was hurrying past with another injured fighter hanging off her shoulder. “Argue later. We need to go.”

There were only a few stormtroopers left, now, all keeping their heads down on the edges of the clearing, pinned down by a few Resistance fighters manning the guns. Most of the others were hurrying up and down the ramp, trying to get the wounded and unconscious into the _Falcon_ as quickly as possible. One of the medics paused and gripped his forearm.

“Have you seen Rose?” he asked, urgently. “Do you know where she is?”

Finn shook his head. “Sorry.”

He nodded and carried on, the woman beside him limping badly as he helped her up the ramp. 

“I haven’t seen her since the base blew.” Finn twisted up his face, trying to remember. “She made it out, though, right?”

“We can’t wait. The First Order’s gonna be all over us any minute now. We’ll just have to hope she’s on one of the other transports,” said Poe, frowning. He pushed a hand through his hair, staring at the carnage of the battlefield, his expression almost bewildered. Then he shook his head and went to help a fighter who was stumbling towards the ramp, clutching his head-tails, blood seeping through his fingers.

The others in the main bay of the _Falcon_ looked frightened as they realised that it was their Jedi who was slumped unconscious in his arms, and several of the medics hurried forwards to begin checking her over. Finn left them to it. Rey’s eyes were still closed, flickering beneath the lids now, and her face was fixed in a frown. He felt a stab of anxiety as he watched.

She had just… run forwards, ignoring everyone else shouting at her to stop. Towards the First Order lines, and then… She hadn’t been hit, or stepped on a tripwire, or spotted the enemy. She had just started screaming.

He didn’t understand why. Why she had done it; why she had fallen; why she wouldn’t wake up. It made no _sense_.

“That’s everyone,” said Poe, as Chewie hurried back on board and disappeared towards the cockpit, followed by two of the medical pilots. He tossed something towards Finn. “You’ll wanna hang onto this.” 

Finn caught it, realised that it was Rey’s lightsaber hilt, and almost dropped it again.

What had made her do it? She had said that Kylo Ren was angry, that she was trying to block him out, but did that mean… had he somehow managed to hurt her? Could he do that? Get into her mind and tear it apart, even though they were half a galaxy away from each other? Finn couldn’t protect her from that, no matter how hard he tried.

He watched her breathing, slow and steady, her eyebrows still knotted in a frown. If Kylo Ren could do that… if he was powerful enough…

Was there anywhere in the galaxy that was safe any more?

 

*     *     *

 

The stars streaked past the Falcon’s cockpit, illuminating Chewie’s shaggy fur with an almost ghostly blue. Beside him, one of the medical pilots was in the copilot’s seat, frowning as he flicked switches. The _Falcon_ was packed with fighters and casualties, medics moving between them with bandages and painkillers and quiet efficiency.

Poe sat in the middle of the main hold and stared at the black-and-white pattern on the table without seeing it.

_How did she bear it?_ How had General Organa kept her hope after so many years of seeing it smashed into pieces, again and again? She had lost battles, seen missions she’d ordered fail, things she’d tried to build destroyed. Seen men and women die on her own orders. How had she kept going?

How could _he_?

Maybe she had been right; maybe he had been promoted too early. As a pilot, he was the best in the Fleet. He could outfly anyone. As a wing commander, he’d always known exactly what needed to be done and how to make it happen. He’d prided himself on how many successful missions he’d led. 

And now… 

As a Resistance leader, all of his plans seemed to go wrong. Every time he thought he knew what needed to be done, what their next move should be… It blew up in his face. And people _died_. Because _he’d_ told them to. 

Perhaps he was the wrong man for this. Perhaps he was wrong to think he could do anything close to what General Organa had. Perhaps they’d be better off with someone else in command.

Finn sat down next to him.

“Well,” he said, after a while. “We destroyed the communications relay, at least.”

Poe nodded, silently, trying to bring himself to speak. He saw Finn glancing at him, his brows drawn together unhappily. He didn’t have to pretend with Finn, but even so… even so…

He realised how General Organa had done it - why she’d kept going for so long, even when it must’ve felt like she was tearing herself apart to do it.

Because she’d had to.

“We got most of our people out,” he said, with an effort. “And maybe Rose managed to finish sending the signal before it blew.”

Finn nodded, encouragingly. “I guess that’s one less of Ren’s Knights we’ve gotta worry about, too,” he said, nudging his shoulder. The relief in his voice was strangely heartening. “That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah,” said Poe. “That’s true.” He raised his head from his hands. “That’s gonna be a kick in the teeth for Kylo Ren, right there. Wouldn’t like to be in the room when he hears about _that._ ”

Finn’s smile was brief. He glanced at Rey, still unconscious. Then he looked back at his hands on the table.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” he said, after a moment.

“Yeah,” said Poe. “I shouldn’t’ve yelled either.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I know why you did it. But you should’ve trusted us instead of just running in on your own. We weren’t about to let them get her.”

Finn chewed his lip. “I’m worried about her, Poe. Not just this. I’ve been worried about her for weeks, now, it just never seems to be the right…” He shook his head. “It just feels like she’s been getting more and more distant. Like she’ll pulling back all the time.”

Rey’s forehead was creased in a slight frown, the pulse on the monitoring equipment a steady, slow beat. 

“I guess a lot has changed for her,” Poe ventured, not sure how to reassure him. “With Luke, and Snoke, and Kylo Ren, and the Jedi… Maybe she’s just trying to find her way through it all. It’s not like any of us know this stuff.”

“Yeah, but…” Finn sounded unconvinced. “I dunno. I just can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.” His fists clenched on the table. “And I don’t know how to help.”

Poe put a hand on his shoulder, wordlessly. Finn was a good man. A better one than him, perhaps; Finn would never even consider giving up when his friends needed him.

He tapped a hand over Poe’s, his fingers warm, then shook his head. “I just need to know she’ll be alright,” he said, almost to himself. 

Rey stirred, muttering something unintelligible. Finn jerked his head around and bolted to her side, clutching at her hand urgently. 

“Rey? Rey, can you hear me? _Rey_.”

Her eyes snapped open and she jerked upright, her mouth twisted in a snarl. 

Finn cried out in shock as he was thrown violently backwards, crashing into a wall and sending equipment skidding across the floor. 

“Finn!” Poe scrambled to get between them as Rey lurched forwards, her eyes wild and unfocused, her movements clumsy. Finn was cradling his forehead in both hands.

“Finn, buddy, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“She-“

Rey was still trying to move forwards, faltering now. “Finn?” she said, uncertainly. Poe shifted to stay between them, not releasing his grip on Finn’s arm. Finn was breathing hard, his face screwed up in pain. 

“What…?” managed Rey, and then her eyes slid shut and she collapsed. 

“She…” said Finn, again, and shook his head, grimacing. “She was in… she tried to get into my head. It was like she was driving a spike through my… I could _feel_ her. She was so… so angry.”

Poe sat back, heavily, staring at him. 

“She - it… it felt like she was tearing into my thoughts, Poe. I know that sounds crazy but-“

“It doesn’t sound crazy,” he said, low. “It doesn’t sound crazy at all.”


	9. Chapter 9

Rose’s head ached. 

The explosion had obliterated everything. All she remembered of it was a flash of blinding white and the heat stinging her skin - and then R2-D2’s lights flashing drunkenly beside her, the pendant digging into her collarbone, and ringing silence as the ground trembled. 

Her hearing had come back gradually, as she had stumbled through the forest towards the ships, little pieces of debris clinging to her hair and her clothes and still fluttering through the air. Everything had smelled burnt. Her eyes stung.

She had only just made it back to the ships; the last of the transports had been about to lift off when she had come slipping and skidding down the slope towards it. It had been full of people she didn’t recognise, but they had helped her up and hauled R2 in as well, and the X-wings above had held off the First Order until they could jump to hyperspace. And she had slumped in the corner as the microhyperdrive powered up and the stars had liquified around her. 

Trying to make sense of what people around her were saying. Trying to swallow the rasp in her throat and get rid of the whine in her ears and the thudding, insistent pain beating against her skull. Trying to remember where the rest of her team had gone - whether they had made it out in time.

She had ordered them to go, she thought. When Poe had called for a mission abort, she had made them all leave, and then she had stayed behind, just for a few moments, just to try to make sure that the signal had… 

But none of them were in the transport, and no-one could tell her what had happened. Were they on a different ship? What about Daven - he had stayed behind to help Major Brance and the others. Where had he been, when the bombs had begun to hit?

The transport shuddered as they dropped out of hyperspace, making the windows rattle. Beneath them, Kyrenesh was a glowing green-gold orb, criss-crossed with lakes and rivers and mountains. They would be at the base soon. She tried to gulp down the sick feeling of fear in her throat. How many of them had made it out? This whole mission had been her idea; how many people had they lost because of it?

Rose staggered down the ramp with the others. There were people everywhere: Resistance fighters spilling out of the transports, medics rushing out to help them, ground crew scrambling to patch up the damaged ships as best they could. She was almost knocked over by someone hurrying past on one of those giant bird things the natives had sold them, saddlebags stuffed full of bandages and blankets. 

She felt like a pebble that had been dropped into a stream, surrounded by noise and movement and colours. None of it made sense. She didn’t recognise anyone. They had only set it up as a temporary base: the structures weren’t fully solid, and they only had the materials for basic repairs and treatments, and she didn’t even know where anything was or where she was supposed to go or…

The med bay. She needed to get to the med bay. She had no idea where the others would be, but it was a good start. And maybe they would have something to stop her head pounding. 

It was packed with people - leaning against the walls, sitting on the floor, helping others stumble over to the entrance cradling injured and bandaged limbs, all with that glazed look of shock she recognised. Rose wove her way carefully between them, trying to get through without stepping on anyone. She felt the panic simmering up within her: none of them were the people on her team. They weren’t there.

And then she spotted Daven. 

“Rose!” He dropped what he was doing and ran to her, sweeping her up into a hug that nearly knocked the breath out of her. “Thank the stars, you’re alright.”

“Um. Yeah.” 

“Sorry.” He looked embarrassed. “It’s just… everyone I asked hadn’t seen you, and then one of the others said you stayed behind to send the signal, and…” He cleared his throat, looking awkward. “Sorry.”

“What about the rest of the team? Did they make it out? Are they okay?”

“Yeah. Most of ‘em, yeah. Some of them got into trouble trying to make it back to the ships,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “Got a lot of injuries to deal with today. But they all made it out before the base blew. Thanks to you.”

“Hey, Rose,” called Poe, from one of the smaller rooms. “Good to see you. We weren’t sure you’d made it.”

He was sitting with Finn beside one of the med pods. Rose moved closer and then realised that it was Rey beneath the dome of glass, her grey Jedi robes still smudged with dirt and leaves and her eyes closed. Finn’s eyes weren’t leaving her face.

“What… what happened?” she said.

Poe shook his head. “We don’t know. She’s been out since Kyrenesh. She’s not hurt, as far as we can tell. She just… collapsed.”

“Her vitals are all normal,” said Daven, but he looked anxious.

“I didn’t manage to send the signal,” Rose said. “I’m sorry. It took too long.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Poe. “What matters is that we got nearly everyone out in time. We’ll fight on. And the First Order destroyed their own comms system, which was-”

“Shh-shh!” said Finn, suddenly. “I think she’s waking up.”

They clustered around the pod, watching. On the bio-monitor, Rey’s heart rate was chirping faster and faster.

Her eyes opened, wide and panicking, darting rapidly around the room. Then she pushed the dome away and sat up, catching hold of Finn.

“It was Ben,” she gasped. “He broke through, he was so angry, I couldn’t stop him…”

“It’s alright,” said Finn, “You’re back at the base. You’re gonna be okay.”

“No, it’s not that, it…” She was trembling. “Snoke was planning it all along. That Ben would kill him and take his place. He was _planning_ it. He made him do it. And Ben, he’d only just realised, he was so angry, I could feel it. He didn’t want to go along with Snoke’s plan.”

They all exchanged glances. She wasn’t making any sense.

“Rey, what are you talking about?” said Finn, carefully.

“Kylo Ren! Ben. That’s why he was so angry. He was trying to break free from the past but Snoke was just controlling him.” She was beginning to sound excited. “He wanted to fight it. He wanted to fight the Dark Side!”

“Kylo Ren _is_ the Dark Side,” said Poe, frowning. “I don’t understand-“

“No, he’s not, he’s not lost. There’s still good in him. It’s getting stronger. He’s trying to throw off the darkness, I can feel it!”

Finn looked confused. “But you said- The First Order is- Rey, why would you…?“ 

“Okay, Rey. I’m gonna need you to go through some checks with me, just to make sure you’re alright,” said Daven, glancing at Finn. “You were out for a while there.”

Her brow furrowed, but she nodded. “Fine. But I’m fine.” 

“Yeah, you probably are. No harm in making sure.” He gave Rose a look. 

“Uh… We’ll let you…” She moved away to give them space. Poe caught her meaning and dragged Finn towards the door. 

“She’s just woken up,” Rose said, quietly, once they were outside the room. “Give her some time.” 

Poe was staring at the floor, frowning. The corners of Finn’s mouth turned down unhappily. “But- but- What’s she talking about?” He shook his head. “Kylo Ren, what’s she saying? That’s he’s gone _good?”_

“She said that Snoke planned it - that he forced Ren to kill him and take his place,” said Rose. “That makes sense with what we knew from the datafiles.”

“But that he’s turned? People like Kylo Ren don’t just _change_ like that,” said Finn. “He killed both of his parents in cold blood. She saw him do it. Why’s she on _his_ side all of a-?”

“Evacuate the base,” muttered Poe, and then raised his voice. “We’ve gotta evacuate the base. _Now_.”

Rose blinked. “What- why? We’re already leaving soon, why…?”

Poe gestured at Rey, who was still obediently going through Daven’s medical checks on the other side of the window. “Because Kylo Ren had a direct line to her brain, that’s why. What do you think he’s gonna have found in there?” He ran a hand through his hair distractedly. “We’ve gotta get everyone out. BB, buddy, can you activate the evacuation protocols from here?”

The little droid burbled something and plugged into the nearest control panel. The alarms began blaring throughout the station. 

In the room, Rey and Daven’s heads snapped up. 

“What’s going on?”

“We’re evacuating,” said Finn, hurrying into the room and glancing back at Poe. “The First Order might have worked out where we are.” 

Rey shook her head. “I don’t think… I think Kylo Ren might have turned against them, too. He just wanted to destroy everything Snoke had planned for. Everything he made.”

“We’re not taking that chance,” said Poe, firmly, from the doorway. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. Stay here until the transports are ready.”

He disappeared into the mass of people already hurrying down the corridor. Rose and Daven blinked at each other, and then Daven shook his head.

“Someday, we’ll be able to stop running,” he said, softly. “That’s going to be a good day.”

 

* * *

 

Finn fidgeted in his chair, twisting one of the threads which was coming loose in his jacket sleeve. Outside, the base was chaos. The evacuation was in full swing now; the _Raddus_ hung in the sky above Kyrenesh, and they were loading people onto the transports… trying to compress the planned removal of the Resistance from the planet into a tenth of the time. 

Rey was restless; she kept glancing around the room, at the window, at the doorway, at the people hurrying past outside. Rose was watching her warily, her forehead creased in a frown. 

“You don’t need to worry about me, Finn,” said Rey, suddenly. “I’m fine now.”

“Poe said to stay here. And I worry about loads of stuff,” he said, trying to smile. “Don’t go thinkin’ you’re special or something.”

“You think I’ve gone crazy.”

“I don’t think you’ve gone crazy,” he said, rolling the thread between his fingers. “You’re tired, you’ve been under a tonne of stress, you just had Kylo Ren poking around your brain-“

“It’s not like that,” she insisted. “It just made me realise… even before that, it still felt _wrong_ , like there was something missing. But I didn’t know why, I thought that maybe it was _me_ , that there was something wrong with me, that I couldn’t do it…”

“It’s Ren - he’s trying to get into your head, he’s trying to- he knows you’re the one who can stop him, you’re the one who can defeat the Dark side-“

Her eyes blazed. “It’s not supposed to be like that! The Dark side and the Light, it’s not supposed to be split. That’s why it isn’t in the books. Someone got it wrong, someone thought they had to fight, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be… There’s _good_ in Ren, I know there is! I can help him find the balance. I can do it. I _know_ I can.”

Finn felt something within him slipping away. He felt like he was losing her. He _couldn’t_ lose her. “Rey, _no_. It’s like last time. He was lying to you then as well. It’s a trick-”

“ _No_.” The medical equipment on the shelves at the edge of the room had started shaking. “I didn’t know before, I wasn’t sure, everything felt wrong… but I understand now. The Dark side doesn’t have to be bad, it’s just-”

“That’s why Snoke linked your minds, Rey - he was trying to pull you over to the Dark side, he wanted-“

“This isn’t about Snoke!” The instruments were rattling, the smaller objects lifting slightly off the shelves, trembling in the air. Finn exchanged a wide-eyed glance with the others. Rey’s eyes were too bright, her stare too intense. 

“Rey,” he said, softly. “You’re scaring me.”

For a second, he saw a spasm of anger flicker across her face. Then it passed, and the objects on the shelves settled back into place. “Finn. I’m just trying to… I just want to do what’s right.”

“I know.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. 

“Rey, how can you be sure that this… this link with Kylo Ren isn’t some kind of… some kind of trick? That he isn’t using it to cloud your mind?” said Rose. “How would you know if-?“

“I think I need to speak to him,” said Rey. “Face-to-face. Like last time, only - not with Snoke there, just us. I think I can get through to him.”

“Rey-“

“The link only works when one of us is upset. We need to talk properly.”

“Rey, please.” Finn could hear the desperation in his own voice. “Just- just rest. Don’t do anything until you’ve recovered. We all need time to think about-”

“You’re not listening!” she cried. “I need to find Kylo Ren. I can stop this. I can stop the First Order. He’s turning, I need to make sure he- I need to get to a ship.”

“We’ll go, we’ll get on a transport. Once we’re away from here-“

“No! I don’t need a transport. I need to find him. I can stop him!”

“Rey,” he pleaded. His throat felt tight. “Listen to me. I’m trying to help.”

“Then _help_ ,” she said, her voice brittle. “I need a ship.”

He stared at her, open-mouthed. 

“Rey, we’ll do everything we can to help,” said Daven, cautiously. “But for now, I need you to rest. We’re still not sure what made you collapse; we can’t let you pilot a ship if it might happen again. So just stay here while we figure out what’s going on, okay?”

For half a second, Finn saw the rage pass through her eyes. Then she ducked her head and nodded. “Fine,” she muttered, ungraciously. “But I told you, I’m fine.”

Daven stepped outside and Rose dragged Finn with her, leaving Rey still staring at her knees, her brow furrowed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Rose said, low.

Daven shook his head. “Physically? Nothing.”

“Then why is she being like this? It’s a suicide mission. Going to talk to Kylo Ren - it’s exactly what he wants. She’ll get us all killed. Can’t you… I don’t know, knock her out or something?”

Finn gaped at her, the sick feeling rising in his throat. “ _What?_ No! You gotta be- How can you even say that?”

“She could be endangering the entire Resistance!” hissed Rose. “No-one is worth that. _Nothing_ is worth that. The Resistance is more important than any of us.” She looked fierce. “That’s what my sister believed. That’s what she died for.”

He stared at her. “She’s my _friend_.”

Rose shook her head. “We can’t let her leave. She’s not herself - I don’t know what Kylo Ren did to her, but…”

They all looked through the window at Rey. She had closed her eyes, holding her forehead with her fingertips, still frowning.

“We… we could lock her in,” said Daven, slowly. “Not for long. Just until the evacuation is ready. Just so she doesn’t try to steal a ship and go.”

Finn wrestled with his emotions. It felt like a betrayal. It _was_ a betrayal. But Rey wasn’t herself - whatever had happened on Kalreetha, it had changed her in some way, made her lose sight of… Perhaps- not for long, but- just to stop her running off and hurting herself, so soon after she had collapsed…

Daven and Rose were both staring at him. Finn swallowed. It felt wrong. But then perhaps… Perhaps if it was to keep her safe - to keep them all safe…

He nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

Poe watched the first of the transports lift off. The base was utter chaos: men and women running everywhere, trying to pack up supplies and dismantle sections of the base, struggling to coordinate a smooth evacuation while the alarms continued to blare.

He wondered if he’d made the right call. They’d been planning to take down the base after the raid on Kalreetha anyway - and with so many casualties from the battle, it was surely a risk to try moving them so soon. He remembered the panic of the evacuation of D’Qar, the supplies which had been left behind and forgotten. 

And it was probably for nothing. He was just being paranoid. The First Order had no idea where they were. Rey had said that Kylo Ren couldn’t do something like that, even if he had managed to break past her defences. They’d heard each other’s thoughts, not seen into each other’s memories. It wasn’t the same. 

Kun appeared beside him, folding her arms as she craned her neck to watch the transports lifting off one after another. Her pilot’s jumpsuit had been pulled on as hastily as his own; still rumpled and creased, her helmet dangling from one hand, straps half-tied. The _Raddus_ waited above them, pale in the clear blue. 

“Remind me why we’re evacuating?” she said.

“Ah, you know - gotta keep everyone on their toes.” The cheerful note rung false in his own ears.

She raised an eyebrow at him, unamused. “Even the ones who’ve just had their toes blown off by a First Order bombing raid?”

That stung. 

“Funny, because I would’ve sworn that there’s no way they could have tracked us,” she said. “What’re you not saying, Poe? What’s got you so twitchy all of a sudden?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just… being careful.”

“You’re a very bad liar; you know that, right?”

“Yeah.” The transports were reaching the ship now, tiny dots slotting themselves neatly into her hold. Once they’d offloaded, they’d come back down for another run. And another. Even with a temporary base, it was going to take _hours_. 

It would give him time to think, at least. He needed time to think, especially now with Rey-

A dark shape jolted into the sky above them.

Poe’s blood turned to ice.

The first ship was joined by several others, silently flicking into the sky behind it, and then one - a huge one, bigger than the _Raddus_ , almost blotting out the second sun, the air suddenly chill as it hurled the base into shadow.

There were several short, panicked screams from people nearby.

The world flashed briefly red.

Kun’s face was stricken as she stared upwards. The remains of the _Raddus_ hung in the sky, the debris fanning out around the ship’s shattered hull. Behind her, the First Order dreadnought - _Ascendancy_ , if the rumours were true - loomed large, her ion cannons still glowing.

“They- they-“ she faltered. 

Poe’s chest felt tight with horror. For a second, he was unable to do anything but stare upwards, the bile rising in his throat as he realised what the First Order had done. How many lives had just been lost.

How many lives were about to be.

“Get to the ships,” he managed, into his comms unit. “All pilots, scramble your wings. Transports, get back to the surface.” He turned to Kun. “Karé, take the squadrons until I can get up there. We’ve gotta take out their surface cannons.” 

She nodded, sticking out a hand, her eyes wide and serious. “It’s been an honour.”

“You too.” He returned her grip. “Drinks are on me when this is over.”

“I thought we’d agreed you’d stop saying stupid stuff like that,” she called, as she vaulted up onto _Stiletto One_ ’s cockpit. “Gonna get us all killed, Dameron.”

The X-wing pilots were beginning to lift off, while above them the transports scattered in panic. Poe could already make out the dark swam of dots spilling out of the Star Destroyers’ hangars, streaming towards them. Tens - no, _hundreds_ of them.

They were going to target the base next. A weapon like that could obliterate them in a single shot. They had until it recharged.

Finn and Rose were waiting for him next to _Black One_ , both panting and out of breath.

“What’s happening? The First Order? They’re here?”

“They’re here,” he said, grimly, as BB-8 began preflight checks from the droid bay. “They just took out the _Raddus_. Listen, I need you guys to take over the people on the ground. Brance isn’t in any state to… We’ll try to take out their surface cannons, but if they land troops-“

Finn nodded. “Got it.” He flicked on his comm unit. “All ground units, this is Finn. Battle stations.”

“Rose, can you take the command centre? We need someone who knows how stuff works to handle the tech.”

She looked frightened. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do it. But how are we gonna get people out of here?” 

“If we can’t take out their cannons, there’s no point,” he said. “If we can, they’ll come down to the surface. We don’t have time to make it to cover. We’ve gotta defend the base.”

Finn nodded, his face determined. “We’ve got this.” He swallowed. “Poe… Be safe.”

Poe hoisted himself up onto the side of the fighter, and then looked back.

“Finn, I…” The words wouldn’t come. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say. He shook his head. “Good luck. Force be with you.”

“Yeah,” said Finn. “You too. Always.”

 

* * *

 

Everyone was panicking. Rey could feel it, their fear swirling frantically around them. And Ben was close. She could feel him, too. 

They had locked her in. She had sensed Finn’s guilt, his confusion, his reluctance… But he and Rose had left, and they had operated the door lock behind them. They hadn’t trusted her. Even Finn hadn’t trusted her. 

She had lied to him. She wasn’t fine. Everything felt raw. She had managed to close off the flood, but it had stripped away something - some barrier which had always existed within her. The Force was restless around her fingertips. The fear in the air was a metallic tang, tugging at her.

“What’s going on?” she asked, knowing full well what was happening. Kylo Ren was here. Close. Now.

Rose’s medic friend was frightened, too, but he was trying to hide it. “I don’t know.”

“The First Order are here,” she said. “People are dying.”

The man was white-faced, his fingers clenching and unclenching into fists anxiously. 

“I can help,” she said, trying not to let her frustration show. “I can stop this.”

He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t let you leave. For your own sake.”

“You don’t understand!” She was having to struggle to hold onto the Force; it was lashing around her like hair in a sandstorm. “ _I can stop this_.”

He shook his head, but it didn’t matter.

She knew what it meant, now. She understood. The Dark Side was more than just anger and hatred and lust for power. The Light was calm and logic and reason and clarity, it was seeing things from the outside - seeing other people, seeing wisdom, seeing the greater good. And the Dark was what was on the inside: love and hate and passion and zeal. It was emotion, it was feeling so deeply about something you couldn’t bear to let it go.

The galaxy needed both. People needed both. You couldn’t see patterns in just one, you needed the contrast. Trying to only let in one just upset the balance. Luke had been right.

Finally - _finally_ \- it made sense. 

Rey took a breath and wrapped herself in the Force, feeling the movement of it, feeling the currents, feeling the power. Power she could use. To stop this. To stop the conflict, once and for all.

She knew what she had to do.

 

* *     *

 

General Hux watched the battle playing out amongst the shattered remains of the Resistance’s flagship with satisfaction. The destruction of the base on Kalreetha was a minor irritation compared to the prize it had won them: catching the Resistance unprepared and undefended, and ripe for extermination once and for all. 

Kylo Ren had not deigned to tell them how he had uncovered the location of the base - or what had triggered the sudden violent fit of rage which had just as quickly given way to smouldering, hostile silence. It hardly mattered now anyway. What mattered was that he was about to witness the complete destruction of the last pathetic remnants of opposition to First Order rule in the galaxy. Ren’s vendetta would finally be over, and the way would be clear for the new dawn of order and prosperity. 

“Recharge the ventral cannons. Target their base next,” he ordered.

“No.” Kylo Ren swung around from where he had been staring out of the window, glowering. “Leave the base. Take us down. We will surround them and crush them on the ground.”

Hux clenched his fists. “Supreme Leader, we have them. In a few minutes the weapons will recharge and we can obliterate their entire-”

“Do not question my authority!” Ren hissed, his eyes narrowing. “We destroy them on the ground. The Star Destroyers are more than capable of wiping out their pathetic fighters. _Ascendancy_ will deploy on the planet.”

He swept out of the room before Hux had a chance to argue. 

Utter lunacy. Of course, _Ascendancy_ was certainly capable of launching a ground assault on the base - but why bother, when they could just wait a few more minutes for the cannons to recharge and then annihilate them? The Resistance’s X-wings were hardly a threat, for all they were throwing themselves suicidally close in their attempts to destroy the ion cannons.

“General?” asked one of his officers, tentatively.

“You heard him,” he snapped. “Bring us down to the surface. Ready the ground units.”

The X-wings were still desperately dive-bombing _Ascendancy_ ’s decks, trying to destroy their ion cannons, weaving and looping to avoid the TIE fighters blocking them at every turn. He wondered if the pilot from D’Qar was among them - the one who had somehow managed to almost single-handedly take out every one of _Fulminatrix_ ’s topside cannons. 

Probably not. Audacity like that almost never lasted long, in a war like this.

It was almost a shame. Hux would have liked to have killed that one himself. Would have liked to have seen him die knowing that it had all been for nothing. The Resistance had failed. The First Order could not be withstood.

Ren would have to be managed, after this. Hux still hoped that perhaps the final destruction of the rebels would mean that he came to his senses - but he knew that it was unlikely. Ren was no more suited to rule a galaxy than he was to sit in Snoke’s throne. He had destroyed one; he would do the same to the other, given half the chance. After today, Hux would have to find a way to bring him into line. 

Captain Phasma entered the bridge just as the ship was beginning to shudder under the transition to atmospheric pressure. “Sir,” she acknowledged, saluting. “The Supreme Leader-“

His fingers twitched. “Where is he?”

“Gone. He took a ship.”

“Gone _where_?” he snarled. 

“He did not say.” Phasma’s voice was emotionless, the hand resting on her vibrostaff steady.

“Hail him,” he snapped at the nearest officer.

“Sir,” the man said, swallowing as they waited in silence for a reply. “No response, sir.”

“You’re telling me that in the middle of a _war_ , he’s just… just… _disappeared_?” he said, his voice rising. 

Phasma stared at him, impassively. He waved a hand at her. “Prepare your troops. You and the Knights will deploy, surround the base, and obliterate it. Leave no survivors. I want the Resistance rooted out once and for all.”

He realised what Ren’s disappearance meant. Whatever his reason for it - and frankly, Hux no longer cared - it left him in sole command. He may not have full authority to eliminate them from orbit, but he’d be a poor sort of general if he couldn’t wipe out one pathetic, poorly-defended base with the finest ground troops in the galaxy.

He watched another explosion shoot past his window. The TIE fighters were darting around the Resistance fighters and transports like a swarm of bees - several fighters to every one of their ships. They could pull them down with sheer weight of numbers alone. Hux smiled tautly. 

Today was going to be a good day.


	11. Chapter 11

She was waiting for him inside the temple.

It was old. He had felt that instantly, even before he had seen the wretched heap of stones making up the entrance. He had felt it even from her memories of it. Old and hollow - the space ringing with the last, faint echoes of the Force, clinging mournfully to the columns around the edges of the main chamber.

Clinging to the past. Clinging to hope. Pathetic.

The ceiling spiralled up above them, a jagged twist of rock, carved out from the spire he’d seen from his ship as he’d approached. He had hardly believed it. He had stolen the memories of the planet from her mind - ripped them out, without even meaning to. He had come to slaughter the Resistance, to wipe every last trace of them from the galaxy - and yet as soon as she’d sensed him, she’d reached out. Called him. _Begged_ him to come and meet her. 

To talk. She wanted to _talk_ to him.

He was far beyond talking now. If she’d had any sense in her, she’d have seen that.

“Your friends are dying,” he said. “I’m flattered that you think that I am more important.”

She shook her head. “They tried to stop me coming here.”

“They were right,” he said. “It was a mistake.”

“But I understand now. There’s supposed to be a balance. Can’t you see that? Can’t you feel it?” Her eyes were almost pleading. “You’re too far on the side of the Dark, the balance is all wrong. I can help you. We can help each other.”

“Snoke wanted you to become my apprentice,” he said, almost conversationally, removing his helmet and tossing it aside. He wanted her to see his face. “He thought that he could wipe out the Jedi for good, if you turned.”

“I won’t do it, Ben,” she said, shaking her head. “He failed.”

“Yes, he did.” 

Ren activated his saber. 

He saw the sudden alarm in her eyes, the realisation. That he had never meant to talk, or to let her turn him away from his path. That he had come here to destroy her. The last of Luke Skywalker’s apprentices. The last hope of the Resistance. The last, final reminder of Snoke’s plan. 

She stumbled backwards into a defensive crouch, activating her own saber. Twin blades of white light lit her features. She must have built it herself. It almost seemed a shame that the last of the Jedi was going to die with a glorified stick. 

He gripped on to the Force with his mind, twisting it, anchoring it to his body. She was watching him, waiting for him to make the first move. Her eyes were wide.

“Ben, don’t do th-”

He lunged.

She sidestepped the first downwards slash, knocked aside the looping back-cut which followed. To his surprise, she followed immediately with her own attack, the white blades whirling, giving him barely enough time to block. Their sabers showered red and white sparks as they connected. 

So. She had been training. 

They broke apart, but Rey launched another furious attack almost instantly, slashing and parrying and lunging end-first, her hands almost blurring with the speed of her movements. Ren countered, dodged, struck, blocked. 

This was no practice fight. 

He could feel her frustration, the anger in every one of her movements, the fury driving her blows. He matched it; blow for blow, block for block, faster and faster, their sabres clashing. They were weaving between the columns, twisting around each other, their feet scuffing the floor, breathing becoming ragged, blades blurring in a humming dance of light and sparks. 

But he was winning this fight. He felt it: in the slow, shifting patterns of the Force; in the flow of the fight, pulling one movement into another. He was winning - with every block, every thrust, every slash and parry and slice. She felt it too, because her attacks were becoming more urgent, more desperate - anger honing her movements until they were almost brittle, delicate. 

And _he_ was winning. 

Rey snarled. Her rage was sharp, but she hadn’t yet learned how to use it. It was making her exposed, her thoughts ragged, her defences confused. The walls around her mind were crumbling under the strain.

He had been trying to block her out. He had put up his own defences, trying to distance himself from the Force-link they shared. But now he saw how he could use it to his advantage. 

She whirled, lunging for him again, their blades meeting inches between them, red and white light flickering over her skin.

Ren slammed his weight onto the lightsaber, slowly forcing her down, driving his mind into hers, pushing-

_I told you I’d see you around, kid._

He jerked backwards, his concentration shattering like glass. 

Rey rolled into a crouch, the steel walls slamming around her mind again. 

“Get _out_ ,” she spat, “of my head.”

He looked around wildly. For a second there, he could have sworn he’d seen… no, that was impossible. It was _impossib-_

He brought his lightsaber up to block just in time - and then he was stepping backwards, dust swirling around his feet, forced to retreat inch by inch as she slammed her saber against his, again and again, with a furious strength which sent sparks cascading over his arms. He almost tripped over a stone block in his path and twisted awkwardly to keep his balance, drawing on the Force to steady himself. 

He could feel her emotions snarling into knots around him, lashing out, wild. Her teeth were bared in a feral grimace as she advanced again, swinging the double blades of her lightsaber with reckless fury. 

Their blades met again, and she pushed down against him, trying to drive his saber back towards him, the heat crackling against his face. 

“Snoke would be proud,” he bit out, savagely, and felt her concentration stutter. He shoved her backwards, hard. “I can feel your anger. I can feel the hatred burning through you. I can feel it giving you strength.” 

“Shut up.” She shook her head. “You’re a monster. I thought you weren’t, but I was wrong.”

“Luke wouldn’t train you, would he? He wanted an apprentice who was on the side of the Light. And look, look at you. Your anger consumes you. You’ll never achieve the balance. You’re not strong enough.”

She lunged at him again with a wordless scream. He blocked, easily. Her blows now were wilder, more vicious and more frantic; he was in control of the fight again, his skill sharpened by the same rage which was blunting hers. He could feel the edge of her panic, now - her fear and her confusion and her horror. She was beginning to realise what she’d done. What it would cost. How many lives would be destroyed because of her.

The darkness within her was growing. He could feel it. That fear, that shame, that despair - they were feeding the twisting, burning nameless thing within her. And she was trying to fight it, draining her own strength away in the struggle. He remembered, long ago, when he’d done the same. When it had torn at him too.

But he had conquered it. Mastered it, as his grandfather had before him. And now Kylo Ren was in control.

 

* * *

 

Poe was flying better than he’d ever flown in his life. The new X-wing was singing beneath his hands, shot after perfect shot, twisting and looping and flowing around the TIE fighters as if they were leaves in a river. He didn’t even have to think; he was flying on pure instinct. It was exquisite. It was transcendent.

And it wasn’t enough.

There were too many of them. The sky was thick with TIE fighters, and behind them the First Order’s massive flagship groaned down through the atmosphere, and the transports were still desperately struggling to get back through to return to the base, blaster-scorched and limping. He was doing his best - they were all doing their best - but it wasn’t enough.

“ _Stiletto One_ , this is Black Leader - how’re you doing up there?”

“The last of the transports is just entering atmo. We’re holding up but there are a lot of bad guys up here,” Kun said, the comms crackling.

“Pull back,” he ordered. “The transports are your priority, and then we need you down on the planet. All wings, escort the transports down and then pull back to defend the base.”

“Copy that, Black Leader.”

The First Order hadn’t used their surface ion cannons, at least. It was cold comfort. Their TIE fighters seemed to be never-ending, and _Ascendancy_ had begun to deploy its walkers and its troop transports, and at least half of the ships which had been heading up to _Raddus_ had been blown out of the sky. Even the new X-wings weren’t enough when they were outnumbered ten-to-one. It felt like all they were doing was delaying the inevitable.

And Poe would keep delaying it for as long as he could still draw breath.

He flipped _Black One_ back around, looping past another destroyed gun turret, trying to shake off the fighters on his tail. He had his own personal escort, almost; a division of TIE fighters which had split off from the main fight and come roaring at him as he ducked and wove and danced among the surface guns of _Ascendancy_. He picked them off, one by one, _Black One_ straining as he pushed her for more, faster, tighter turns. 

“ _Black Leader_ , this is _Black Two_. We came as soon as we could,” came Jessika’s voice. He could hear the catch in it. The squadron had probably dropped out of hyperspace right next to the remains of the _Raddus_. 

“Good to hear you, Black Squadron,” he said. “We could use some help here. Get sub-atmo and help keep ‘em off until the transports offload.”

“Copy that,” she said. They must have cut their mission short as soon as the distress signal had come through. No-one else would be coming, he knew. They hadn’t even bothered to send the call to the other rebel cells; it would be like handing the First Order the entire Resistance on a plate. Their situation was desperate enough that it would hardly make a difference, anyway. 

Another two gun turrets down, his cockpit briefly filled with light as he shot through the wreckage. BB-8 shrilled in protest. 

“Sorry, buddy. Forgot you don’t like that when we’re planetside.”

Flying sub-atmo made it easier to blow things up, anyway, even if BB-8 hated the combustion scorching his circuits. Ahead of him, he could see the vast bridge of _Ascendancy_ gleaming, almost golden in the dying light of the day. Perhaps if he could get to the bridge, get through the shielding somehow… the commanders must be there, watching the battle. He could take out half of the First Order in one sweep.

He accelerated towards it, keeping low along the top of the ship, racing the plasma blasts from the cannons, weaving and dodging. BB-8 was beeping frantically, and the TIE fighters were screaming towards him, but it was just a bit further… he could make it-

One of the TIEs screeched out of the sky directly in front of him, and he had to jerk _Black One_ away just to avoid a head-on collision. Her wing clipped it instead, sending them both spiralling out of control. For a few gut-wrenching seconds, he was fighting her - black and silver and purple-streaked sky spinning around the cockpit - and then the moment had passed, and he had lost his chance.

“We’re down,” said Kun, briefly. “Everyone’s sub-atmo. Looks like most of the TIEs are heading back to their ships.”

“Copy that.” Poe felt a surge of frustration. The First Order were toying with them. 

They knew that the Resistance couldn’t survive for long, that even a few divisions of TIE fighters would be enough to keep them out of the ground battle. That there was no point risking most of their fighters when all the ships had to do was sit and wait for Resistance’s inevitable last, desperate attempts to bolt past to hyperspace.

“Whoa!” The comms crackled as Jessika’s voice cut through. “Did you see that?”

“What? What’s happening?” Poe threw his fighter around again, narrowly avoiding the blaster fire. Another TIE went down before him. Maybe he’d get another shot at the bridge, if he could just keep going…

“The- one of the Star Destroyers just- Black Squadron, was that you?” Kun said.

“No! We’re entering atmo now!” said Jessika, and then there was another chorus of shouts on the comms from the other pilots.

“Oh! No way!”

“Another one!”

“Jessika, what’s happening? What’s goin’ on?” he said, glancing upwards for the briefest possible time while he pulled up sharply from another gun turret disintegrating into a ball of flame. 

“It’s the Star Destroyers - I dunno what’s happening to them, but they’re- they just- two of them just blew up. I dunno what happened, we weren’t even _near_ them,” she said, excitedly, and then gasped. “ _Three!”_

“What the-?” said Kun.

“Are you sure? Jessika, are you sure? It’s not- there’s not another squadron up there, another ship, someone…?”

“I dunno what’s going on, but it’s not us,” she said. “That’s five of ‘em now.”

_“Five_ Star Destroyers just blew up?” he said, incredulously. “For _no reason_?”

“Should we get up there?” asked Kun. “There are only a couple of ‘em left, we could-“

“Keep with the transports and the base. We need you down here,” he said. He didn’t understand what was going on - and he certainly wasn’t going to complain if the First Order had inexplicably decided to self-destruct - but he knew where their priorities were. The ground battle had already begun; he was catching brief glimpses of the walkers and the plasma bolts streaking across the grass from his cockpit as he twisted to avoid the fighters still streaming after him.

“Poe! Poe!” Rose’s voice came through on his comms. Distantly, he heard an explosion in the background of the transmission. 

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s-?”

“It’s - Poe, they’re using the new starfighters! The new TIE fighters! They’re using them and oh, I never even _thought_ of that, but, wow, yeah, that’s what’s happening to the Star Destroyers!” Rose was babbling on the comms, so fast that he could hardly understand what she was saying.

“What are you talking about? What new TIE fighters? We’ve pulled our fighters back, why are things still blowing up?”

“When we were in the factory - we sabotaged the TIE fighters they had, I altered the thermal capacitor line, just a little bit, I was trying to make it so that the fuel tanks would blow up when you got a shot near them even if they still had shields up…”

He swerved to avoid another fighter and jammed his finger onto the trigger. Another gun turret. How many did _Ascendancy_ have?

“But it was the temperature change that did it, cold to hot, it’s the heat sink malfunction and the sudden thermodynamic shift that ruptures the pressure tanks, and oh, Poe, I never even thought, but it’s perfect!”

“Rose, you’ve lost me. Tell me it’s good news.”

“It’s perfect! Stuff in space gets really, really cold, Poe.”

“…Yeah. I know.” Maybe she’d actually lost her mind. Maybe all of that stress and the pressure of command and the missions and the battle had finally got to her. 

“And the inside of a Star Destroyer isn’t!”

He blinked. “So you’re saying…”

“When they go from space to the inside of their hangar, they blow up!”

Poe was silent for a few moments. “Rose. Rose, you are… you are a genius.”

“I know!” She sounded excited. “And Poe, that’s not even the best part! Because I bet _Ascendancy_ has _hundreds_ of TIE fighters.”

“… Okay, you’ve lost me again, why is that good news?”

“They’re still in the hangar!”

He was confused. Wasn’t it supposed to be the TIE fighters _returning_ to the hangar that made them explode? And even then, wasn’t it because of the temperature change between the ship and space? “But they’re sub-atmo anyway, they’re not-“

“No, no - but they’ve got them all in the hanger, they’ve got racks and _racks_ of them, all next to each other, and just one shot-“

“Just one shot and they’ll all blow up,” he finished. “Got it.”

He slammed _Black One_ back on herself, forcing the TIEs on his tail to scatter and swerve to avoid him. He knew what he had to do. And he could do it. He was the best damn pilot in the galaxy, and _he could do it_.

Poe threw his fighter towards the underside of the ship, the darkness swallowing him as he raced between the decks. Bursts of light streaked past him - green, red; ion cannon fire, plasma bolts. He ignored it. It had to be perfect. They’d never let him get close enough for another run, after they realised what he was trying to do.

_Some problems can’t be solved by blowing things up_ , said General Organa in his mind. His heart was thudding.

He’d always been better at the problems that could.

_Not yet, not yet, not yet…_

The hangar was glowing blue and red ahead of him, TIE fighters lined up in neat rows while around them troopers hurried to scramble them-

_Now._

He fired - two quick shots, then two more, and then the hangar entrance was flashing past and he was skimming along the underbelly of the ship. There was a _thud_ , and the cockpit shuddered as a dull roar rose behind him. BB-8 buzzed at him urgently. 

Poe glanced backwards. The fire was boiling towards his fighter - a rolling wall of light, the explosion unfurling out from the underside of the ship, closer and closer-

He threw _Black One_ forwards, faster, weaving around the gun turrets and communications aerials, _faster_ , pushing her as hard as she would go. He could see the gap between the upper and lower decks, tilted almost directly upwards, the clear sky, so close now, just a few more seconds-

The cockpit was surrounded by a wash of orange light as the fire swept over him. He couldn’t see anything. _Black One_ was screaming at him, the warning systems beeping, BB-8 squalling, the engines shrieking, the controls shuddering beneath his hands, but the edge had been _so close_ , he could still make it, he just needed to hold on-

One of the wings clipped something solid, and he had to wrench the steering around to keep her from spiralling out of control, and the damage warning lights were flaring all around him, but he was nearly there, he _knew_ it-

_Black One_ shot out from between the _Ascendancy_ ’s decks, straining vertically upwards as the ship tipped away beneath them, racing the fireball which was spilling out around them.

And something slammed him sideways into the cockpit hood, and everything was beeping alarms, and the fighter wouldn’t respond, and BB-8 was screaming, and the sky and fire were tumbling around him dizzyingly, and the engines were dead, and Finn was shouting something over the comms, and _the engines were dead_ , and everything was spinning-

And Poe was falling.


	12. Chapter 12

The _Ascendancy_ was yawning above them, the fire still spilling outwards from between her decks as she seemed to tip impossibly towards the sky. The top deck was splitting in two, flames tearing out from the breach, a chain of explosions studding her foredeck, accelerating, building towards the control tower, the engines…

Rose was clutching her tablet so hard that the edges were almost cutting into her palms. “I think he’s done it,” she said breathlessly, staring upwards.

“Poe!” Finn was shouting, his voice hoarse, into the comms unit. “Get out of there, Poe, the whole thing’s gonna blow-”

The Ascendancy’s main engines exploded.

There was a moment of resounding silence. On her tablet, Rose saw the fighter outline flicker, and then turn red. 

The boom and roar of the explosion reached them, deafening, thundering through her feet, her chest, her whole body. It felt like the ground jolted beneath her. 

She stared upwards as the entire ship seemed to slide in slow motion towards the mountains at the edge of the valley.

“He’s not-” Finn had seen the tablet, held loose in her hands. He took hold of her arm, his voice desperate, almost pleading. “Rose, he can’t be.”

“I…” She shook her head. “He must have been caught in…”

“ _No_ ,” Finn insisted. “I’ve gotta go find him.”

“Finn, the fighter-“

They were both thrown off their feet by the force of the impact. A massive bloom of fire - a cloud of debris rising behind it - had spread upwards into the sky as the ground shuddered beneath them. A blast of wind seemed to rush in towards the explosion. 

It was another few seconds before the roar caught up with them, and Rose covered her ears and curled up around herself, her heart thudding against her chest frantically. It seemed like it was all around her, swallowing her, crushing her-

And then it was over. Rose raised her head, shaking, pain thudding through her forehead insistently. 

_Ascendancy_ was down.

She struggled to her feet. Around them, the other officers were doing the same, staggering to the edge of the outcrop to stare out at the battlefield beneath them. 

The massive hulk of the First Order’s flagship had cracked almost completely in two, lying in a scarred crater of purple-red rock, the smoke billowing from its engines. The impact had thrown the battlefield into total chaos, Resistance and First Order alike: walkers knocked down, entire squadrons scattered. Even the blaster fire had stopped. 

“I can’t believe it,” muttered Captain Connix, wide-eyed. “I can’t believe it.”

“What… what do we…?”

Rose was flicking through the readout screens on her tablet, trying to work out what had happened to the other squadrons, when Finn grabbed her arm.

“No, wait, what about - what about Poe? Where’s Poe?”

“He’s… the… his ship went offline,” she stuttered. “I’m sorry, Finn. I don’t think-“

“ _No_ ,” he insisted, again. “I gotta go find him. Gimme the last readout of his position. He might need help.”

The blaster fire was starting up again below them, the troops slowly crawling back into their battle lines, the comms beginning to fill with chatter again. She shook her head.

“It hasn’t been destroyed,” she said. “There’s still troops. Some of the walkers are still standing. This isn’t over.” 

In the distance, she could see movement near the _Ascendancy_. Dark shapes, trickling out from the wreckage. Some of the First Order had survived the impact. She felt her heart sink. Their flagship might be down, but the battle was far from won. The Resistance were still fighting for their lives.

Rose bit her lip. “We need Rey. We need a Jedi. Kylo Ren is probably in there, somewhere, and his Knights. We can’t do this without her.”

“He’s not dead. I’m gonna go find him.” 

She wanted to shake him. “We’re _all_ dead if we can’t win this, Finn! It’s all for nothing if we don’t-” 

“Then go,” he said, seriously, gripping her by both arms. “Go find Rey. Go win the battle. You’ll do it, I know you will. But I’ve got to find him. I’m sorry.” His eyes were almost pleading. “I’m sorry, Rose. But he… he’d do the same for me.”

 

* * *

 

Ren sidestepped, his saber flashing. Rey’s attacks had changed; now they had that same desperate, unskilled strength that he remembered from Starkiller Base, as she struggled against both him and the darkness closing in around her. 

There he had been injured, weak. Now he was strong.

The temple shuddered - one huge, tearing jolt, as if the mountain itself was trying to rip them apart.

Rey stumbled. For just a second, her defences slipped - and in that second, he had her in a Force hold with all of his strength. The hilt was ripped from her fingers, clattering to the ground. 

He slammed her to her knees, bringing his lightsaber to her throat. Just one stroke, and it would all be over. Snoke’s final hold on him would be broken.

“Your name is Ben,” she said, quietly. “You aren’t lost yet.”

He stared at her. She was like a dog who kept coming back, no matter how many times it was kicked. Kept coming back with that same pity, that same hope, that same faith that there was still a part of him worthy of redemption. She had believed in him. _Still_ believed in him.

“I’ll never be free of it, you know,” he said. “I thought I could kill it. Kill the past. I thought I’d be rid of it, by killing him. But he wouldn’t even let me have that.”

No one else had ever believed in him. Even as a child, he’d seen the moments of doubt in his parents’ eyes. He was chained to his inheritance, haunted by his own grandfather: every new power discovered had driven the wedge deeper. If he had hidden it better… but he hadn’t been able to hide it, he had never been able to hide it. He hadn’t been strong enough.

“Ben,” she said, softly. “You don’t have to let him control you. You can be free. Come back to the Light. Back to the balance. I’ll help you. We’ll help each other.”

“It’s too late for that,” he said. “It’s always been too late. Don’t you see? I don’t seek redemption. The Light has no power over me any more.” He felt a hot burst of rage. “You only want to change me, to use me, like everyone else.” The lightsaber was still trembling in his hand. “Your friends are dying. Once I’ve killed you, I’ll make sure that every last one of them is hunted down. I’ll slaughter them like animals.”

The red light glinted off the tear rolling down her face. He could feel her emotions roiling underneath. He almost laughed.

“You still think you’re on the side of the Light?” He crouched down beside her. “I see it in your eyes. I see it in your heart. The darkness. There’s a part of you that wants to kill me. Is that what you want? To kill me and take my place? Rule the galaxy as you think it should be? Use all that power to make the world a better place?”

He felt her struggle against his Force hold: the shame, the rage within her building.

“You should do it, you know. I’ll only grow stronger. I’ll destroy your precious Resistance. No-one will stand against me. It’s the only way to stop me.” He watched her, carefully, her skin reddened by the glow of his lightsaber, her face a mask of hatred and despair. He tightened the Force hold even further. “But you can’t. Child of the light. You can never win. One side has to destroy the other, doesn’t it? That’s the only way. But to kill me would be to give in to the darkness.”

“You’re wrong. There are more ways to fight the darkness than killing it,” said Rey, through gritted teeth. 

He tightened his grip on his lightsaber, his knuckles going white. “You still think you can turn me? Even now?” She was glaring at him, still trying to tear free from his Force hold, the hope still burning within her. “Rey, daughter of nobody, champion of the light, heir to a Jedi Order of ashes and dust and false promises.” Ren shook his head. “You’re more foolish than I thought.” 

 

* * *

 

The X-wing was a smashed wreck - wedged at a sickening angle between the tree branches, the wings twisted and broken, black smoke pouring from the cockpit. Finn felt his blood run cold as he jumped from the bird’s back to run towards the crash site. 

“Poe? Poe!”

BB-8 was beeping frantically, rolling back and forth beneath the fighter, its tow-wires tugging at a thick branch which had smashed into the cockpit hood. It spotted Finn and abandoned its attempt, whirring over to bump at his legs, whistling and beeping urgently. 

“Poe, are you in there? Can you hear me?”

He spotted a flash of orange in the cockpit. Dark smoke was rolling out from where the branch had struck. The glass and metal around it had shattered, but the rest of the cockpit hood was mostly intact - and as he scrambled up the tree beside it he saw something dark hit the window from the inside. 

Poe was alive.

Alive, and trying to smash through the glass with his helmet - striking again and again, desperately. The glass had cracked in a spiderweb, but it was still holding. 

“Poe, hold on!” he shouted. The bark tore at his palms as he tugged at the branch. It was still attached to the tree, part-splintered from the trunk, the exposed wood pale. The cockpit hood wouldn’t open. 

The helmet smashed into the window again; he could hardly see it through all of the smoke. Again, again, again. Poe was panicking.

Finn took careful aim with his blaster and fired. The cockpit juddered, the base of the branch now scorched and blackened. And almost free. Finn kicked at it, trying to break the last few splinters. The movement from inside the cockpit was slowing, the strikes with the helmet weaker now.

“Poe, I’m coming, hold on!” He heaved at the branch, trying to shove it away - braced himself against the tree trunk, tried again.

It crashed to the ground and he scrabbled at the cockpit hood, forcing it open, the sudden rush of black smoke biting into his lungs. He groped around blindly until he found what felt like a body and heaved, feeling his back protesting.

They tumbled down onto the forest floor together. Poe was coughing and wheezing, gasping for air like a drowning man. He was wearing his life support mask, but he ripped it from his face as he half-stumbled, half-crawled away from the fighter and collapsed panting onto the ground. BB-8 hurtled at him, nudging at his legs and warbling an anxious stream of Binary. 

Finn wobbled to his feet, his heart racing and his lungs burning. “Poe, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Poe’s eyes were closed and his chest was heaving as he shook his head. His face was smudged with soot and sweat, a dark mess of blood running from his forehead to his jaw.

“I’m… okay,” he croaked, and then opened his eyes. “I think. Finn?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” 

He reached for him and struggled to sit up, coughing. “I crashed,” he said, staggering to his feet with Finn’s arm for support. “Did I crash? How did I crash?”

“You brought down _Ascendancy_ ,” said Finn. Poe blinked at him. 

“It worked? Rose’s plan worked? It brought down the ship? The _whole_ ship?”

“Yeah,” said Finn. “The whole ship.” He was still shaking, the adrenaline and the fear still coursing through him, and suddenly he felt like laughing. Poe was staring at him as if he were insane, gripping both arms.

“I don’t- how- wait - what are you doing here?” His voice was rough. “Finn, you shouldn’t be here, you shouldn’t have come, they need you-“

“Yeah, well,” said Finn, and grinned. “I’m saving what matters.”

Poe went very still, staring at him warily. “I- what?”

Finn kissed him.

Poe’s reaction was pure shock for the first few heartbeats. And then he responded with a warmth that surprised even Finn, the edges of his life support unit digging into his chest, his lips dry and cracked and tasting of smoke and blood and salt, his arms coming up around-

“Finn? Finn!”

They broke apart, Finn fumbling with the comm unit on his wrist. “Uh… Rose?”

“Finn, she’s gone. Rey’s gone! I went to her room to find her and Daven won’t wake up and she’s gone and I don’t know where she is!” Rose sounded panicked. “No-one saw her, no-one knows where she is!”

He exchanged an alarmed glance with Poe. If Rey had escaped… what did that mean? Why had she gone? And _where_ had she gone?

“When? When did she leave?”

“I don’t know! No-one else was supposed to go in the room since we left her there, it could have been any time, it’s been so crazy here…” They heard a distant explosion over the comms. Another plume of dark smoke was rising from over near the base.

“Rose, wherever she’s gone, they need you back in the battle,” he said. “I’ll - I’ll try and figure out what to do. Don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on not dying, yeah?”

“What about Poe? Did you find Poe?”

Finn grinned at him - and Poe grinned back, still looking a little dazed. “Yeah. I got him. He’s alright. Good luck, Rose.”

“Copy that. You too.” The comm clicked off. 

Poe was still gripping his arm. “We have to find her,” he said. “In case she… Do you know where she might have gone?”

Finn shook his head. “It could be anywhere. What if she took a ship - what if she..?”

“No, Rose would have said. They would have noticed if a ship was gone. Wherever it is, it can’t be far. Where would she…” He swayed and tightened his grip on Finn’s arm for a second. “Ungh.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just… argh. Serves me right for trying to walk away from a crash like that too fast.”

Finn helped him limp to a fallen log to sit down. “I don’t know where she would’ve… she barely even knows the planet, it… oh. _Oh_.”

“You know where she is,” said Poe, watching him.

“Yeah. Well, maybe. Yeah. I think I do. I think so.” He frowned, trying to remember the route they had taken. “There’s an old Jedi temple near here. I think it’s close. We found it when we were scouting the base - she said she could feel it…”

“You have to go after her.”

“But-“

“Me and BB-8 will head back to the base. We’ll be alright.” Poe stood up, unsteadily. “Finn. You have to go find Rey.”

“Yeah. I know.” He glanced at the wreckage of _Black One_ , still smouldering. “But you have to take Jabba.”

Poe raised an eyebrow at him. “You named the bird Jabba.”

Finn shrugged. “Rey’s been telling me the stories Luke told her. And it suited him.”

“I wish I had time,” said Poe, limping over to the bird, “to tell you all the things that are wrong with that.”

 

* * *

 

Ren stood over her, the lightsaber still trembling in his hand, still pointed at her throat. Rey felt the turmoil within him, emotions tumbling over each other like sand whipped up by a storm. The ground was trembling. The lightsaber was close enough that she could feel the heat prickling against the skin of her neck.

“You don’t have to do this,” Rey said, softly. “It doesn’t have to control you.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t control me.”

“You-“

“You _want_ that to be true, don’t you?” he said, cutting her off. “That I’m being controlled by the Dark Side. By Snoke. Such a convenient excuse. All of those things I did, it wasn’t really _me_ , it was…” He shook his head again, more violently. “It _was_ me. I did those things. I killed my parents. You saw me do it.”

“They still loved you, Ben.”

He turned on her. “Do you think that’s even _close_ to the worst of what I’ve done?” he demanded, low and savage. “I’ve killed hundreds of people with my own hands. Under my orders, the First Order has killed millions. _Billions._ Do you think it’s worse that I looked into my father’s eyes as I killed him, or that I never even saw their faces before the First Order wiped them from the the galaxy? Tell me: can you look into my eyes and forgive me? For every single one of the lives I’ve destroyed?”

She stared at him, the answer heavy in her chest. “No.”

“It’s too late. There’s only one redemption open to me now. And I won’t take it,” he said. “I won’t let you win. I can’t go back. The past is dead to me. I killed it.”

“But-“

“What do you think would happen? That the galaxy would welcome me with open arms? That just because I said I was sorry, that it would erase everything I’ve done? All would be forgiven just because I _wanted_ to be redeemed?”

She wanted to tell him that he was wrong. She wanted to be able to forgive him, the way a Jedi should. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t a Jedi, and she couldn’t forgive him.

She’d failed. 

She felt the shame, the fear, the anger, the horror, all welling up inside her. The hopeless rage, building up, tightening her chest, bubbling up in her throat-

She wanted to tear something down. She wanted to tear _everything_ down. The Jedi, and the Sith, and the temple, and the First Order, and the Resistance, and all of it. She wanted to destroy it all. It had all gone wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Balanced on the edge of a blade, destroying everything it touched.

The stones were trembling around her. She was shaking. The ground was shaking. Everything was shaking. 

And Kylo Ren suddenly looked uncertain.

“What are you doing?”

She didn’t know. She didn’t understand it, she couldn’t control it. It felt like she was cracking from within. The walls, the columns - great, dark cracks appearing, spreading.

“ _What are you doing?_ ” Ren screamed, stumbling backwards to avoid a chunk of stone smashing onto the floor between them. He swung his saber up to deflect another block and then dropped it, both hands raised above his head, bracing against the weight of the temple above them. 

Rey felt something huge within her, shifting, coming loose. The ground was shaking violently now, and she scrambled to her feet as more cracks appeared in the walls, the air filling with dust as chunks of stone began bursting around her. She was shaking so much that she could hardly stand. The Force within her, around her… the patterns roaring, pulling her with them, a storm catching at every part of her mind, her thoughts flashing like lightning- 

The rocks were shattering under the force of it. The temple was collapsing. The weight of thousands of years of history was crashing down around them.

“It’s over, Ren. It’s finished. We’re finished.” 

Their eyes met. And there, for the first time, she saw it. 

He understood.


	13. Chapter 13

Finn ran. 

She had to be in the temple. She _had_ to be. It was the only place he could think of that she would’ve gone. She must have gone to find Kylo Ren, and where else would two Force-users go but the old Jedi temple, far above the battlefield? She was trying to talk sense into him - trying to turn him, to show him the path back to the Light… 

She _had_ to be. 

What if it was a trap? What if this whole thing was just so that Kylo Ren could split her from her friends, from the rest of the Resistance - get her alone so that he could capture her and keep trying to twist her and torment her until she- she…

She had wanted to talk to him. She had said that she had understood. She had… she had said that the Dark side wasn’t bad, she had said… what if she had meant…?

No. She couldn’t.

_Could she?_

He skidded to a halt. Captain Phasma was standing in the middle of the track, flanked by a small unit of Stormtroopers. Beside her stood a tall figure in a dark robe and helmet. Another Knight of Ren. 

“FN-2187. I was hoping I’d have the chance to kill you.”

How the _hell_ had she survived? He’d thought he’d seen her, back on Sar Yonrac - it felt like an age ago now - but he’d put it down to exhaustion and the confusion of the battle and… Because how _could_ she had survived? He’d put her own vibroblade through her hip. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been slumped in the middle of a back alley among the ruins of the rest of her troop.

And it had been in a First Order city on a First Order planet, and they could do incredible things with transplants and implants and mechanical limbs nowadays, and she was high up enough in Command that’d she be given priority and…

“Why won’t you _die_?” he said, gripping his blaster so tightly it felt like his fingers might fuse to the body. He wished he’d thought to pick up a First Order one from the battlefield along the way. The old models used by the Resistance weren’t powerful enough to get through her armour. 

He didn’t have time for this. He needed to get to the temple, to Rey - she might be hurt, she might be trapped, she might be fighting for her life right now. And he needed to get back to the battlefield, to Poe. To Rose and the others. They needed him. Rey needed him. 

The Resistance needed him. 

“A traitor. From my own unit,” Phasma said to the Knight. 

He sounded bored. “Then kill him. We are being needlessly delayed.”

“I intend to,” she said. “With pleasure.”

“Go to hell,” growled Finn. The old hatred was rising in him; even when he’d been in her unit he’d resented her, and just the sound of her voice made him want to ram his blaster down her throat.

“I want you to know,” said Phasma, cooly, raising her blaster, “that after today, there will be no-one left to even _remember_ the Resistance.”

“You weren’t so confident on Starkiller Base,” he shot back. “Bet you haven’t told your friends here how come the shields got disabled, huh?”

For an uneasy moment, no-one moved. Then the Knight turned his head.

“He’s a traitor and a liar,” Phasma said, derisively.

“It takes one to know one,” said Finn. “I guess it’s all that training. I barely even finished the threat before you pulled the lever.”

The stormtroopers were all looking at her now. He couldn’t see their expressions - but he knew what they were thinking. There was nothing worse than someone who betrayed their comrades just to save their own skin. Even a deserter wasn’t as bad as that.

Phasma had tensed, her hands tight on her blaster. 

“I wonder what you told ‘em, once you got out of the trash compactor?” said Finn. “It must’ve been pretty good. Don’t think I would’ve been able to worm my way out of that. I mean, you were the only one in the control room when the shields went do-“

There was a flurry of blaster fire. Six of the stormtroopers went down, and then the Knight had smashed Phasma’s blaster out of her hands and drawn his vibroblade as she stumbled backwards. 

“Traitor,” he snarled. 

She had shot first; there was no hope for defending herself now. She drew her own vibroblade, crouching in a perfect defensive stance. 

“If you had any loyalty left,” said the Knight, “you’d kill yourself now. We are wasting time, and you can no longer be trusted.”

Phasma didn’t answer, her helmet twisting left and right. Her gaze fell on Finn.

“You’ll pay for this,” she said, savagely.

“Yeah?” He was already backing away. “You can put it on my file.”

Phasma launched herself at the Knight. Their vibroblades clashed. 

Finn ran.

 

* * *

 

Rose stared out over the battlefield below her, trying desperately to see the patterns, to work out which squads were where, who needed help and where they needed to press the attack. It was confusing. She hadn’t trained for this, and it was nothing at all like re-wiring a circuit or cleaning out a motivator or fixing an inertial dampner…

“Krayt, you’ve got incoming on your four. Defensive formation,” said General Ematt, his eyes glued to his macro-binoculars, leaning heavily on his stick. “There’s a walker coming in on the left flank. We need air support.”

“Copy that,” said one of the pilots, over the comms. 

“Gun seven is taking damage,” Rose warned, as one of her tablet holos started flashing. “I think Rancor is closest but they’re running low on ammo.”

“We need a resupply to Rancor,” ordered Connix. “Get a medic team over there as well.”

There was a crackle of static and a voice in a language Rose didn’t understand came through on the comm. The Kyreneshi commander’s crest flushed red. 

“ _Te’dut on duur aichid an_ _t’suanoii. Teniig tsosul’uh!_ ” he snapped into the unit on his wrist. He turned to her. “They are attempting to come through the forest to the west. For an ambush.” His eyelids slid across with a soft _click_. “They will not come out.”

She was a little scared of him. The Kyreneshi had just appeared, suddenly, a little while after the _Ascendancy_ went down. She didn’t really understand what they had said, but they had seemed willing to fight - and it wasn’t like the Resistance was in a position to turn down allies. But their commander seemed constantly furious, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was barely concealing his disgust at the state of the Resistance command. 

“Artillery Seven, fall back,” said Ematt. “Nexu, push forward and cover them.”

Rose wasn’t even sure if they were winning. The First Order troops seemed to be endless. The X-wings were working hard to thin out the TIE fighters which had escaped the explosions of their motherships - but on the ground, the squadrons and the walkers and the artillery just kept coming.

She felt sick. Even after everything, after they’d saved most of the transports and stopped the Star Destroyers and brought down the _Ascendancy_ \- even now, it still felt like they were losing.

She saw a figure staggering up the hillside towards their command outcrop, his face covered in blood and a little orange-and-white droid at his heels.

“Poe?” she gasped. “Poe, what- are you alright? Do you need a medic?”

“What?” He reached the outcrop and hauled himself up onto it, looking confused. “Why would I need a-?”

She gestured at his face. He touched it and stared at his fingers, bright with blood.

“Oh. Right. Yeah.” He shook his head. “No, I’m okay. Nothin’ major. What about Finn? Have you heard from him? Has he found Rey?”

“Not yet.” She helped him to his feet; despite his words, he looked unsteady. “We’ve kind of been busy here.”

He stared out at the battlefield, frowning. Rose hadn’t seen Kylo Ren’s telltale red saber, so that probably meant that they had been right; Rey had gone to find him. She hadn’t listened when they’d tried to warn her; they’d had to lock her in to stop her going to find Ren, and even that hadn’t worked. And she must have knocked out Daven to do it, because he still hadn’t woken up. She felt her stomach clench. 

How could Rey have done that? Attacked her own friends, betrayed their trust, ignored their advice? And now she had disappeared, just when they’d needed her most. 

“We’re gonna be overrun here,” said Poe, suddenly. “We need to move the command centre. Look.” He pointed towards the base of the hill, where a squadron of Stormtroopers were slowly pushing through the trees towards them. BB-8 shrilled in alarm.

The other officers looked up from their tasks. The Kyreneshi commander’s crest burst into a confusion of red and purple. Ematt’s eyes widened.

“Fall back,” he said. “We need to fall back.”

Poe pulled his blaster pistol out of its holster. “I’m no use here. I’m gonna go fight.”

“No-” Rose grabbed his arm. “Look at yourself. You can barely stand up. You’ll get yourself killed.”

“But-“

“We need you here. We need _commanders,_ Poe.” 

He looked around as if seeing them for the first time: Ematt, leaning on his stick for support, his face grey with fatigue; Connix, wild-eyed as she tried to take in information from three holoscreens at once; the Kyrenenshi general, hissing softly between his teeth as he watched the stormtroopers advance slowly up the hill, vibrospear gripped in one hand. 

Poe’s face was pale. “Where- where’re the other-?”

“We don’t _have_ any others. Cicer and Angira were with Captain Gawat on the _Raddus._ Brance is still in the med bay. D’Acy and Kalonia are on the front lines. Even Rey’s gone. _It’s just us._ ”

Rose could hear the fear in her own voice, the desperation. She was scared - really scared, not just the simple uncomplicated terror of the stormtroopers or the plasma bolts or the walkers which just kept dragging themselves closer and closer no matter how many hits they took… but scared that she couldn’t do it, that they couldn’t do it, that they were going to _lose_ today. 

And it was going to be her fault.

“Poe, you have to help. We need you.”

He shook his head. “I- I don’t think I can. I’m a pilot, Rose. I’m not a commander. General Organa was right, she promoted me too early-”

“You _are_ ,” she said, fiercely. “If I’m a captain then you’re a commander. And we-”

“Every decision I make, every mistake… people die, Rose. I thought I could do it but-” He shook his head again. “I blow stuff up. It’s what I’m good at. I _know_ I’m good at it. But everything else…” He shook his head. “I thought if I could do it one more time, it’d be enough. But you need more than people like me to win wars.”

“You’re not-“

He shook his head again, more vehemently this time. “Rose, you don’t understand. I - I can’t - I don't think I can do it, I’m not… I’m not _her_ , I can’t keep above it all like she did, I get pulled in too easy, it’s too personal, I can’t-“

She slapped him. Poe froze, his mouth open in an almost comical expression of surprise.

“Shut up!” Her hands had balled into fists by her side, and her heart was hammering. “Just- shut up. None of us are above it all any more. None of us want to be here. None of us feel like we know what we’re doing. So no, you’re _not_ Leia, but we still need you right now because there’s no-one else who can. So you’ll have to just- just…”

Poe was staring at her.

She’d just shouted at her commanding officer. She’d just _slapped_ her commanding officer. 

Oh, stars and moons, she was in the middle of a war zone and she’d just slapped her commanding officer.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean-“

He shook his head as if to clear it. “No, you’re right.”

“I- I am?”

“Didn’t appreciate _that_ ,” he said wryly, rubbing his cheek, “but yeah.”

“But you just said that-“

He had a strange look on his face. “Leia never did it because she wanted to. She did it because she had to.”

She stared at him. “Poe. You have to.”

He looked out at the battle again. His mouth had closed in a determined line. “Yeah. Got too much to lose now to let ‘em win.”

She almost smiled, even though the stormtroopers were getting closer and the ground was beginning to shake from the steps of the walkers and she could see the carnage of the battlefield below. “Yeah. And we’re not gonna lose today.”

 

* * *

 

The temple had completely collapsed. 

It had already been a ruin before; now it was just a pile of rubble. The huge, twisted spire at the top had crashed down and shattered into a thousand pieces. It looked like half of the mountain peak had caved in on itself. 

“Rey?” Finn scrambled over the rocks, searching desperately for something, _anything_. “Rey, are you here? Can you hear me? Rey!” 

He stood in the centre of the rubble, breathing hard. The explosions and blaster fire were still grumbling in the distance. He could see the smoke still rising from the wreck of the _Ascendancy_. 

And the temple was silent.

“ _Rey_!” He screamed it, his voice hoarse, his throat aching. She was here; he knew it. She had to be. She _had_ to be.

Silence. The mountains echoed his shout back at him, mocking. 

Hopeless. It was hopeless. 

A movement caught his eye. Hardly anything. He might even have imagined it. But there - in that pile of rubble, among the cracked stones… 

The dust was rising. Just slightly, just quivering over the surface, less than a fingers-width above the stone - and then it was joined by a few of the bigger grains and chips of rock, and little pebbles about the size of his fingernail, all hovering in the air, balancing…

Finn scrambled over. “Rey?” He scrabbled at the stones, suddenly frantic. “ _Rey_?”

His hands were caked in dust, little bloody cuts and grazes smearing across his skin, but he kept going - faster now, heaving away the bigger chunks, and the little stones were still rising around him - and there was a scrap of fabric, a flash of-

He was thrown backwards by a blast which knocked all of the breath out of him. He smashed against the side of the mountain, into a pile of rubble, hard enough to make his vision shudder and his head ring. 

Rey was curled in the centre of a galaxy of stones and pebbles and dust, all hanging suspended in the air, an explosion of rocks frozen around her. Her eyes were closed, her face screwed up - in concentration or in pain - her fists clenched tightly around the hilt of her lightsaber. She was so covered in dust that it was hard to tell the difference between her clothes and her skin. But _alive_.

He staggered over to her, ignoring the aches in his muscles and the sting of his back. His throat was so caked in dust that he could hardly speak.

“Rey.”

She dropped the lightsaber and reached out towards him blindly. She was shaking, clinging onto him as around them the pebbles and rocks pattered back onto the ground like a sudden shower of rain. 

“Finn,” she croaked, her voice muffled in his shoulder, and hugged him even tighter as the relief washed through him. 

They stayed there in silence for a long moment.

“I made a mistake,” she said, eventually, letting go. “I thought- I thought… I was wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Finn.

“He didn’t want to listen. He never wanted to. He wanted to kill me. Because he thought Snoke was trying to push us together.” She shook her head. “He could’ve killed me. But he- he hesitated. So I… I think I…”

“Rey-“

“I pulled the temple down on us both. I didn’t really mean to do it, I just…”

“Rey, it’s okay. You’re here now. You’re safe.”

She flopped down to lean against one of the larger fragments - a carved column, stone leaves and flowers curling up around its base.

“I don’t think this is how it was supposed to happen. Maybe the Jedi and the Sith were supposed to end together.” Her expression was grim, her eyes somehow far away - as if she wasn’t really seeing anything. Finn took her hand, trying to pull her back. 

“I don’t really care,” he said, “about _supposed to_. Rey, I wasn’t gonna let you die here. And no-one’s gonna pull Kylo Ren out of the rubble, so maybe that’s the difference.”

She looked at him properly. “What?”

“It’s about looking out for each other. It’s about protecting what matters.” He squeezed her hand. “Family. Friends. The Dark side doesn’t have any of that. That’s why it can’t win. No-one should have to do this on their own.” 

Rey stared at him. “I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“I know that, too,” said Finn. “Me too. I didn’t know how to help.” 

Rey let herself smile for the first time in what felt like forever. “Finn, I think you already did. Let’s go help our friends.”

 

* * *

 

General Hux stood on an outcrop above the battlefield, watching his empire go up in smoke. They had been so close. Even after _Ascendancy_ had gone down - and he still had no idea how that had been allowed to happen - even after they had lost _Ascendancy_ , they had still had more than sufficient ground troops to finish the job. The TIE fighters had failed him, but the ground troops still should have won the day. 

They had been _winning_. He was standing in the remains of the Resistance command centre; they had overrun it and pushed them back and forced them to retreat… And the Resistance had made them fight for every inch, but they had been _winning_.

Hux could make out the tiny figure of the Jedi below him, her white saber blades whirling through the smoke and sparks as she neatly dismembered another walker. Damn her. 

He was alone. His guards had gone, or been killed - it hardly mattered. The last remaining Knight of Ren was leading the troops below, her polearm glowing red. She had nearly reached the Jedi. Perhaps she would delay her for a while. Perhaps she would even kill her. Perhaps the day was not yet lost.

He watched the two figures come together; the dark and the grey, the red and the white. From up here, with the light failing as the second sun dipped below the horizon, it was hard to tell who was winning. The colours blurred together as they clashed, moving around each other, circling, lunging-

The dark figure went down. 

The Knight had failed. Everything had failed. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman approaching him - a Resistance fighter, not even wearing proper armour, her dark hair wild and a blaster pistol held shaking in her hands. He hadn’t seen her climbing the hill. Perhaps she had been hiding here the whole time, waiting for her moment. Well, this wasn’t it.

“Get away from me,” he spat, his voice rising. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I know _exactly_ who you are,” she said. The pistol was pointing directly at him. “You’re gonna lose today, General Hux.”

He could see her fear, despite her words. He knew her sort. She wouldn’t have the guts to do it. She was trying to talk herself into it, but the truth was, the likes of her would never be a threat. He was one of the foremost generals of the First Order. He had ordered _millions_ like her to their deaths. She was nobody.

“Put the gun away,” he snapped. She wasn’t going to fire. The whole damn thing made him want to scream. It was so _stupid_.

Hux turned away to watch the battle. It was lost, he knew. It had been lost from the moment their damn Jedi woman had come back, and every one of the First Order army knew that Kylo Ren had failed. 

He had to get to a ship. The First Order would never recover from this. He was watching the empire he’d tried to build come crashing down around him.

The woman was still standing there, still holding the blaster pistol with both hands, trembling. Ridiculous.

“Go on,” he said, bitterly. “Run back to your pathetic Resistance.”

She wanted to, he could see it. The gun wavered. Her mouth was set in a hard little line, but everything about her screamed indecision. 

Then her eyes narrowed.

“This,” she said, “this is for Paige Tico.”

She pulled the trigger.


	14. Chapter 14

Dawn was breaking over the mountains - and the droids were still working at the temple, removing stones and clearing rubble, trying to uncover the chambers beneath. Looking for remains. Looking for Kylo Ren.

Finn had his arm around Poe, who was slumped against him with his eyes half-closed. He looked exhausted. They both looked exhausted. Rey paced up and down in front of them, chewing her lip anxiously.

It had ended hours ago. It didn’t feel real, even though she had seen it - seen the wreckage of the AT-ATs, the hundreds sprawled among the churned-up mud of the battlefield, the last remaining stormtroopers throwing down their weapons and surrendering. Most of the Resistance had gone back to the base - to collapse, wearily, onto the nearest available surface.

But she couldn’t. She had to know. 

“Do you think he’s dead?” asked Finn, softly.

“I… I don’t know. I can’t… I can’t feel him any more. The darkness. It was there before, but…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what that means.” 

Finn held out his other arm to her, and she hesitated before going to sit beside him.

“Do you _want_ him to be dead?”

She stared at her hands. “I don’t know.”

They all gazed at the rubble of the temple in silence for a moment.

_“I_ want him to be dead,” said Poe, drowsily, not lifting his head from Finn’s shoulder.

“It… it feels like a failure,” she admitted. “Even when… even when the temple was coming down. He understood, but he hadn’t… he never rejected the Dark side. I was wrong about him.”

“Rey, we’ve _won_ ,” said Finn. “We’ve stopped the First Order.”

“Yeah, I know.” She leaned against him. “It doesn’t feel real yet.”

One of the droids split off from the digging and rolled over to them, warbling. Poe’s head came up. 

“They’ve uncovered a chamber,” Rey translated. “I should go and…”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Finn move to follow - and Poe catch at his hand, pulling him back, shaking his head silently. She was grateful.

The droids had clustered around it: it was off to one side, split off from the main chamber, dug down into the mountainside. Ren wouldn’t be there, she knew - but somehow, she had to go in. The entrance was tiny, and still half-filled with rubble… but the space beneath it echoed with the Force. The soft grey light of dawn followed her in, falling onto the dust covering the floor and catching a glint of - of…

“I did say,” said Luke, “that I’d see you again, padawan.”

Rey was gripping the hilt of her lightsaber so tightly that it hurt, her heart thudding. The blue glow in the corner of the chamber strengthened, and then there were two figures standing there. Leia smiled, kindly.

“What are you doing here?” Rey blurted out. “What are you- why are you- why didn’t you-?”

“Hello, Rey,” she said. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Where were you? I _needed_ you.” Rey’s voice sounded accusing to her own ears. “You said you’d help me.”

“You were blocking out external Force presences.” Luke smiled, a little ruefully. “I taught you too well.”

“My brother always had problems knowing what was good for him,” said Leia. 

“All Jedi do,” said Luke. “I was wrong about you, Rey. I was wrong about the Jedi. That’s why I came back.” He sighed. “I failed, but I forgot the most important lesson. Failure isn’t the end. Giving up is.”

“And you didn’t give up, Rey,” said Leia, her blue outline flickering. “I’m so sorry that you had to do this alone. You won’t be any more.”

Rey thought of the others: Finn and Poe, waiting for her outside the rubble; Rose, probably still running around organising the clean-up; Chewbacca, who had simply enfolded her in a huge, hairy hug when she’d made it back to the base after the battle. 

“I know,” she said. “But I wasn’t alone.”

 

* * *

 

Everything hurt. His leg ached, his chest ached, his head ached. He was so tired he could barely see. His stomach was hollow and he would’ve killed for a drink.

Poe had never been happier in his life.

The smoke was still rising from the wreck of the _Ascendancy_ , and the second sun was turning the mountains around them gold, and Finn’s arm was warm around his shoulders. 

And they had won. They had really won.

The tide had been turning even before Rey had come back, her lightsaber glowing white as she’d swept through the battlefield like an avenging angel. They had fought like people with nothing to lose, with everything to gain. And the stormtroopers had thrown down their weapons, and the Resistance had won.

He felt Finn tense beside him and looked up, trying not to wince at the crick in his neck. Rey had come out of the temple, her face solemn. She shook her head. 

“He’s not there?” asked Finn. 

“No,” she said, and then hesitated. “I’m going to look in the main chamber.”

“Do you want me to help?” 

“Can you… can you wait here?” she said, frowning. “If he’s there…”

Finn nodded. “We’ll be here,” he said. “If you need us.”

“I’m kinda glad,” Poe admitted, quietly, as she picked her way over the rubble to join the salvage droids. “Not sure if I can stand up right now.”

Finn’s arm tightened around his waist. “You need the med bay?” he said.

“Nah.” Poe leaned into him. “Just gonna stay like this for a bit.”

He felt Finn hum contentedly. “I’m not complaining.”

“You will when your arm goes to sleep.”

Finn snorted. “Yeah, that’d definitely be the worst thing out of all the stuff that’s happened in the last day.”

The second sun had almost risen above the mountains, the double shadows from the remains of the temple dark against the slope. The droids were digging deeper now, with Rey directing them to clear away these stones or that, trying to get down to the chamber below. The birds were beginning to sing.

“So… what happens next?” said Finn, after a while. 

“Hm?”

“What do we do now?” He shook his head. “I’ve been… I’ve been fighting for as long as I can remember. My whole life. I dunno… I never thought that it might end. Like… properly end.”

“Huh. Never thought of it like that.” Poe yawned. “I guess now… now we get to see what peace is like. Y’know, the whole deal. Settle down, get a farm, rebuild the entire Republic…” 

He felt Finn smile. “I think I like the sound of that. But what’re you gonna do without stuff to blow up?”

“Ah, there’s always stuff to blow up if you look hard enough,” said Poe. “My parents did not appreciate me learning that lesson,” he added, chuckling.

Finn laughed. “Yeah, I guess not.”

“Hey,” called Rey, and they both raised their heads to look at where she had clambered up from the excavations to wave them over. “We found something.”

“Is it Ren?”

“Not… not really. Sort of. Come and look.”

Finn shifted and got to his feet, then pulled Poe upwards. He let him lean on him as they made their way slowly over to where she was pointing at something dark in the rubble. Poe felt him go tense as they saw what it was.

Ren’s mask, crushed and twisted almost beyond recognition. Beside it, they had laid the shattered hilt of his lightsaber. 

“That’s all?”

Rey nodded. “We didn’t find anything else.”

“So… where’s Ren? This is his stuff, right? So what happened to him?”

Rey sighed, deeply, and closed her eyes. “He let go. Kylo Ren is gone.”

 

* * *

 

She had never been to a party before. Not a proper one, anyway. Sometimes the junkers had got hold of some of Dren Tecala’s home-brewed moonshine, but it wasn’t the same. There they had been drinking to forget - to make their throats burn and their eyes blur, to cauterise their minds against the heat and the sand and the endless, relentless drag of life on Jakku. Here, people were… enjoying themselves. Celebrating. Smiling. 

She sat at the edge of the firelight, taking it all in. The air was thick with the smells of roasting food and the strange, sweet smoke that the locals’ fireworks gave off. The sky was shimmering with lights in a hundred different colours. She could feel the beat of the music through her feet, mixing with chatter and laughter. 

Poe was trying to teach Finn to dance, by the look of things. They both seemed to be enjoying it, even if there was decidedly more enthusiasm than talent from Finn - and Poe wasn’t much better. Rose and Daven were swaying together, completely out of time with the music, their arms wrapped around each other and their eyes closed. They looked happy, though. Everyone looked happy. 

“This is your doing, Rey. I hope you realise that,” said Luke, sitting beside her, glowing faintly blue. “They’re alive because of what you did.”

She stared at them all for a moment.

“I’m going to find the other Force-sensitives,” she said. “There must be some. I’m going to help them.”

He nodded. “I’m glad.”

She looked at him in surprise. “I thought you said that the Jedi should end?”

“I was wrong about that. And not wrong. The Jedi as they were should end. The Jedi you will create… they have the potential to correct many of the mistakes which led to the Order’s downfall.” He rasped his beard with his thumb and then smiled, wryly. “I’ll try to help, where I can. I made a lot of those mistakes myself.”

Rey nodded. “Thanks. That’s… thanks.” 

“Now stop worrying about the future and go enjoy the party,” said Luke - with a sudden, unexpected grin which seemed to make his face twenty years younger in an instant. “It’s not every day you defeat the greatest tyrants in the galaxy. Enjoy it.”

He faded out of view and she felt his Force presence diminish in her mind. She returned her attention back to the party, to her friends. Rose and Daven were still wrapped up together, their foreheads resting against each other, oblivious to everything around them. Chewie was over by the cooking fires, roaring his enthusiasm as one of the cooks turned over a huge slab of meat which looked to be half the size of him. Poe was pushing his way through the crush to the bar, laughing as he struggled through a small crowd of people slapping him on the back and shouting congratulations over the music. And Finn- Finn was walking over to her, wiping the sweat from his forehead and grinning. 

She squinted up at him as he approached. “Hey. Having fun?”

“Parties are exhausting,” he said, flopping down beside her. “But I like them.”

Rey laughed. “Me too. I think.”

“I’ve thought of a name,” he said, “If you like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Dunewalker.” Finn was watching her face carefully. “Because… that’s where we came from, you and me. Walking the dunes.”

Rey thought for a moment. “Yeah. I think I like it.” She nodded, more strongly. “Yeah. Rey Dunewalker. Finn Dunewalker. I like it.”

His face split into a grin which she couldn’t help but return. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” 

Poe, somehow managing to fight his way back through the crowds without spilling any of the drinks he was holding, sat down with a grunt opposite them and handed the glasses along. 

“Why are you still sittin’ here? Do Jedi not dance, or something?” he said, nudging her with a foot.

“Oh, dancing - was that what that was supposed to be?”

He closed his eyes in mock pain. “Finn, did you hear that? Sayin’ we can’t dance.”

“I can’t dance,” said Finn, happily. “It’s fun, though.”

“Drinks are on you, Dameron!” shouted Karé, grinning like a lunatic as she swayed past with a few of the other pilots in tow. Poe rolled his eyes. 

“I’m gonna regret this tomorrow,” he said, ruefully.

Finn looked anxious. “Should we-?”

“Nah.” Poe grinned and wrapped an arm around his waist. “First lesson of partying, Finn. If you don’t regret somethin’ the next day, you’re doin’ it wrong.”

At his feet, BB-8 warbled something, sounding amused. Poe nudged it with a foot. “Okay, yeah, I did regret that one. But in my defence, how was I to know it was gonna gum up your circuits like that? Alcohol’s not supposed to-”

BB-8 chirped.

“Yeah, well, you were due a cleaning anyway.”

BB-8 beeped again.

“Don’t listen to that droid in the corner, Finn, Rey, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said Poe, loudly. “Nothing has ever gone wrong at a party, ever.”

“I definitely believe you,” said Finn. He held up his drink and solemnly tipped a splash out onto the ground. 

“Hey, whoa, you’re not supposed to spill it-“ protested Poe.

“It’s what we always did,” said Finn. “Whenever we… whenever one of us… stormtroopers aren’t - weren’t - allowed funerals. It was the only way we had to…”

“Oh.” Poe nodded, slowly. “Okay.” He tipped a little of his own drink out, and Rey followed suit. “But y’know, we should probably do a toast as well.”

“What should we say?”

Poe looked surprisingly thoughtful. “I’ve got one.” He held up his drink so that the liquid caught the light of the fireworks, shimmering like stars. “To the Skywalkers. May their legacy live on.”

“The Skywalkers.”

“And may the Force be with us. Always,” added Finn.

Faintly, behind them, she saw Luke smile.

“Yeah,” said Rey. “I think it will.”


End file.
